Quick Links

Final Fantasy 13-2 puts the heroic spotlight on a previously supporting character, Serah, as she and her newfound allies travel through time on a grand adventure. While the main game is meaty and engaging, Square Enix crafted several fun episodes of downloadable content to further the fun. Protagonists Lightning, Snow, and Sazh each receive short scenarios designed to continue their characterization in fresh fashion, but the bulk of FF13-2's DLC centres on Coliseum battles.

Related:Final Fantasy 13: How to Defeat Gigantuar

These are the game's hardest fights, pushing players to the brink in order to prove their mettle. In perennial Final Fantasy tradition, they're mostly callbacks of some kind — either to the original Final Fantasy 13 or to the series at large — though the final bout pits Serah and Noel against a powerful and unique foe.

Lean on our guide a little for some quick tricks on how best to beat the Coliseum's numerous key competitors. Before you know it, you'll be rolling in rewards.

How to Unlock Final Fantasy 13-2's Coliseum

FF13-2 Coliseum 3

The Coliseum is technically unmissable. A short sequence unfolds there relatively early into the main story that tends to leave folks a tad bewildered. After all, this is a big fighting arena. Where are the big fights?

The answer, of course, is that they're DLC. Finding them on digital storefronts varies per platform, and as of this writing, Final Fantasy 13-2 is unavailable on the PS4 and PS5's PlayStation Store. That's a bummer, but it could change in the future.

On the flip side, if you purchase the game on Steam, the DLCs come free of charge. This isn't the case for Xbox (or the PS3's store, where these can be acquired) but the good news is they're fairly inexpensive.

Once the Coliseum DLCs have been acquired, simply head back to the Coliseum in-game. From Chapter 2 onward, every Coliseum battle can be accessed and attempted an infinite number of times.

Strategies for Every Coliseum Fight

FF13-2 Coliseum 4

Now for the main event. The Coliseum challenges will be listed in order of their initial launch back when FF13-2 was brand new, although they can be completed in any order the player prefers.

DLC Mission Title

Enemies

Bringer of the End

Omega

Operation XIII-2

Lightning and Amodar

A Study in Elegant Death

Nabaat and Fiends

Uninvited Invertebrate

Ultros and Typhon

Clash On The Big Bridge

Gilgamesh

Take Me To Your Leader

PuPus and UFO

The One You Love

Snow

No Mercy for the Judged

Valfodr and Fiends

Related:Final Fantasy 13: Where to Find Every Weapon

Omega

  • Whereas Paradigm Shifts are a major part of Final Fantasy 13-2's overarching tactics, some of these Coliseum fights mandate specific setups for the bulk of the match.
  • To that end, keep a Sentinel active at all times to tank Omega's considerable damage output.
  • Omega's Wave Cannon assault can climb to 120 percent. When this happens, swap your active Paradigm to Tortoise or despair.
  • All told, this is hardly the hardest Omega in the Final Fantasy canon, though do be sure to start the fight at a reasonably high level.

Lightning and Amodar

  • FF13's leading lady, on the other hand, packs a real punch even with a fully maximized party. Strongly consider alternating between the Diversity, Tri-Disaster, Cerberus, and Salvation Paradigms on a semi-rotating basis.
  • Amodar spams debuffs like they're going out of business, so be ready to amend his assault whenever it arises.
  • When Amodar is imperiled, hit him hard with Tri-Disaster's numerous elemental spells.

Nabaat

  • It may be tempting to focus all your efforts on defeating Jihl Nabaat herself and ignoring the lesser foes (or as the gaming community often says, "trash mobs") by her side. This will seem especially tempting if you lose the fight to her a few times and you've seen what she does with them all — she uses Sacrifice Pawn to systematically kill them for boosts.
  • Don't do this. The "mobs" confer powerful bonuses to Nabaat while they're around. Taking them down before she does the dirty work herself can save players a massive headache.

Ultros and Typhon

  • Cerberus, Tri-Disaster, Convalescence, and Malevolence are your go-to decks here. Start things off with Cerberus to stagger the heck out of Typhon in particular. Typhon basically stops caring about the fight once his stat-boosting buffs run out; this lack of willpower causes him to cast multiple debuffs on himself.
  • Ultros wastes turns looking after his bud when this happens. Now stagger Ultros while he's busy removing those debuffs.
  • Faith and Bravery can bolster the effort to stagger the sentient octopus, hence Malevolence's role here.

PuPus and UFO

  • The UFO switches between active and inactive modes. Whenever it's active, it performs healing abilities on the PuPus, even replacing the fallen outright when necessary.
  • Cerberus is your best bet for pretty much the entire battle. You can damage every PuPu simultaneously and even get some hits on the UFO.
  • Be on the lookout for the PuPus' powerful Meteor spell. Jump to defensive Paradigms whenever it's on the horizon.

Snow

  • This is more of a single-tactic fight than the rest. Once Snow reaches 500 percent tension on a single target — and he likes to bombard one opponent at a time, so it can happen frighteningly fast — he'll use a move called Sovereign Fist. That's an instant game over. Not good.
  • Sentinels can Provoke Snow to remove his obsessive punches, but if all else fails, feel free to knock someone out yourself rather than allowing Snow to hit that 500 mark.
  • Remember when Lightning smacked Snow early in Final Fantasy 13's story? Smack him again, this time with relentless use of debuffs.

Valfodr

  • Valfodr comes at the party with multiple stages: Level 1, Level 15, Level 45, Level 70, and Level 99. The first three are not as challenging as much of what you've faced before this point. 70 is trickier; use a Synergist to keep the En-type beneficial status on everyone at all times.
  • It's no great surprise that the Valfodr's Level 99 form is Final Fantasy 13-2's ultimate Coliseum fight. Bring the DLC Lightning fight's Lightning "monster" with you (more on her in a moment).
  • Bring as many Wound Potions with you as possible. In other words, a full stack. You'll need them.
  • DeProtect and DeShell should be cast consistently. Valfodr's defenses are frankly absurd without them.
  • Valfodr's idea of a good time involves casting Haste/Bravery/Faith on himself ad nauseum. Spoil his fun with a constant barrage of Dispel.

Coliseum Rewards

FF13-2 Coliseum 1

Sweet spoils of war. Some RPGs can underwhelm in this regard. Final Fantasy 13-2 is not one of them.

The primary prize for partaking in FF13-2's Coliseum fights comes in the form of Paradigm Packs. These are the same items that allow players to "capture" monsters for use in the third party slot throughout the game.

The Coliseum's Paradigm Packs are, naturally, among the very best around. Each of these is going to ring a rather immediate bell — they're based on the foes you've vanquished in the arena. Most of what follows is earned through the Coliseum, but we've included the exceptions to the rule since they're also DLC-only catchable creatures.

Name

Role

Requirement

Amodar

Commando

Defeat Lightning and Amodar; low drop rate

Gilgamesh

Commando

Defeat Gilgamesh and Typhon

Lightning (1)

Commando

Complete her DLC episode with five stars

Omega

Commando

Defeat Omega

Typhon

Commando

Defeat Gilgamesh and Typhon

Lightning (2)

Ravager

Defeat Lightning and Amodar; low drop rate

Valfodr

Ravager

Defeat Valfodr

Snow

Sentinel

Defeat Snow

Nabaat

Saboteur

Defeat Nabaat

Sazh

Synergist

Complete his DLC episode

Ultros

Synergist

Defeat Ultros

PuPu

Medic

Defeat PuPus and UFO

Next:Final Fantasy 13: Complete Cie'th Stone Mission Guide