FFXIII: How to use a synergist?

[Minana]

Since I started the fourth chapter my fights took extremely long or I wasn't even able to complete them.

I'm sure it's because of the synergist which is new in that chapter and I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.
One fight with Vanille and Sazh I used every command but still I wasnt able to kill the add properly.
I unlocked every command in the crystarium for synergist Lv. 1 but still it won't work.

I hope someone can help me please.

 

[Cardinal Copia]

The Syn isn't a damage dealing "job", it just has buffs that you can put on your party. You need to change to Ravager or Commando to do damage and kill enemies.

 

[Minana]

Thanks for your reply
I tried it again and used Sazh as synergist in the beginning of the fight and changed then to where Vanille is healer. Still the fights in normal mode were nearly impossible because the damage was too high and Vanille too slow. In easy mode the fights were okay.
Is it the right way to use the synergist in the beginning?

 

[FinalxxSin]

Is it the right way to use the synergist in the beginning?

If the characters do not need to be buffed, then a Synergist does not need to be present.
If the enemy targets do not need to be debuffed, then a Saboteur is not needed.
If the characters do not need to be healed and/or have abnormal status effects removed from them, a Medic does not need to be present.

These three roles in the very short fights are not always necessary due to the length of them. Typically the short fights can be addressed with a combination of Commandos and Ravager roles. Your battle score will always be based on your time, so the concept is to always play as efficiently and aggressively as possible to get 5 stars in the battles.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

If fights are taking too long or feeling insurmountable, than you're misusing the Commando and Ravager jobs. Commando obviously uses physical attacks, while Ravager uses black magic. But they also have unique properties when dealing with the Stagger gauge. Ravager attacks make the gauge rise much faster, but it also falls faster. Commando makes the gauge rise slower, but it also falls slower. Staggering enemies is nearly always the main goal in fights, as it offers HUGE boosts to damage output. So focus on using Paradigm Shifts to quickly achieve this. I don't recall what jobs the characters have access to in chapter 4, but if you have access to two Ravagers, start with that. Get some good hits in, and then switch to a Commando/Ravager Paradigm before the stagger gauge(s) start falling too fast. Commando attacks will slow it back down so you can go back to the Rav/Rav Paradigm. If you have access to two of them, you could also switch to a Com/Com Paradigm from the Rav/Rav. Then give yourself a Medic/Synergist Paradigm to allow yourself to heal when needed, while also getting some buffs on the side, Just make sure not to stay in it too long, or switch to it after doing many attacks in the Rav/Rav set, or Stagger gauges could reset. As a defense against this, you could also make a fourth Paradigm set that is Med/Com.

You'll quickly find that the strategy in XIII is all about utilizing the proper Paradigm setups, and switching between them rather rapidly to get quick staggers and such. There are many mechanics designed to support this. For example, Sentinels give a passive defense boost to the party, and this stacks when more Sentinels are out at once. A Sen/Sen/Sen Paradigm can make even the most devastating attacks survive-able. The more Saboteurs you have out at once, the longer debuffs stay on enemies, and the easier it is for them to work. The more Synergists, the longer party buffs stay on. Etc.

 

[tiornys]

In the chapter 4 section she's likely talking about, she doesn't have a Commando in the party. You're right that paradigm setups and good use of paradigm switching is important, but a lot of the rest of your post is tangential at best to her question.

Minana: there are a couple of easy tips that can help when fighting with Sazh and Vanille, and then there's some advanced ways of handling enemies that are extremely efficient but also very tricky to pull off when you're lacking a Commando. I'll start with the tips.

First off, stacking buffs on top of debuffs is considerably stronger than using either in isolation. For the early Sazh/Vanille section when you don't have a Commando, the easiest good way to handle fights is to have Sazh cast Faith on both characters, get Vanille to inflict Deshell on each enemy, and then go into damage mode with your Ravagers. Also, be sure to Libra enemies when you first fight them.

Secondly, don't be afraid to use Potions. They take a lot less time than shifting to a paradigm with a Medic, and they're very strong right now.

***
I'll go into a little more detail about those tips if you're interested; if not feel free to skip.

Faith multiplies magic damage by 140%, and Deshell multiplies magic damage by 189% (Bravery and Deprotect do the same for physical damage). Because multipliers in FFXIII stack by multiplying each other, using both results in a total effective damage output around 265% of normal (more precisely, 1.4 * 1.89 = 2.646). This is about the same kind of damage multiplication you get from staggering these early enemies without buffs or debuffs as with Lightning and Hope, where staggered enemies often have chain percentages of 250%-300%. If you can also exploit an elemental weakness--which Libra helps with--you'll be able to kill enemies fairly quickly even without staggering them.

As far as Potions go, it should be obvious that shifting to a healing paradigm cuts your offense in half. You've probably also noticed that Vanille isn't all that great as a healer right now. By contrast, Potions healing 150 HP to both characters is quite strong given your current HP totals, and you can make them extremely strong by equipping a Doctor's Code on Sazh to double the healing to 300 HP. As you get deeper into the game, Potions get less important because your Medics will get stronger abilities and your HP totals will keep growing, so there's not much point in saving them.

***
The more advanced technique I mentioned is to combine the power of debuffs with the chain and stagger system. There's good synergy here, because Saboteur abilities help with building up the chain, and because it's easier to inflict debuffs when you have the chain built up. However, it's tricky to stagger enemies when you don't have a Commando, because that means you don't have a reliable source of chain duration to make the chain last longer. That said, you do have a good source of chain duration: successfully inflicting debuffs. When Vanille successfully inflicts Deshell or Deprotect, you get about 10 seconds of chain duration, which is more than enough to stagger these enemies if you follow up with a lot of Ravager spells. The problem is twofold: first, once Vanille inflicts a debuff on one enemy, she'll immediately start trying to debuff a different enemy, and second, after she's inflicted all enemies with the debuffs that she knows, she'll stop casting Saboteur skills entirely. Therefore, to leverage the chain duration you get from a successful debuff infliction, you have to be very fast with your paradigm shifts. A good pattern is to start in RAV/SAB and shift to RAV/RAV immediately when Vanille hits a debuff. Stagger, kill that enemy, and shift back to RAV/SAB to repeat the pattern on the next enemy.

Against tougher enemies you can augment this further by casting Bravery and/or Faith early in the fight, but if you're planning to do this method then avoid having Vanille be a Saboteur in your Synergist paradigm (instead maybe use SYN/MED). You won't need this for most fights though; combining debuffs and stagger is more than strong enough to overpower most early enemies (you'll typically have about a 250%-300% chain post-stagger; multiply that with the 189% boost from Deshell and you're looking at ~470%-567% damage right after stagger, going even higher as your RAV skills continue to boost the chain).

Going forward, I'll just note that if Vanille is in your party you almost always want to leverage her debuffs, and if Sazh is in your party then you sometimes want to use his buffs--increasing in frequency later on as you gain access to more potent buffs.

 

[FinalxxSin]

tiornys The Commando role is still accessible in chapter 4. As the OP already got the help he/she needed, I doubt your post will be read by them as this point.

 

[tiornys]

@tiornys The Commando role is still accessible in chapter 4. As the OP already got the help he/she needed, I doubt your post will be read by them as this point.

Depends on which part of chapter 4 we're talking about; for the first half of the chapter, Sazh doesn't have Commando. The wording of the OP suggests that their problems are happening in the first Sazh/Vanille section, which is a very common place for players to struggle precisely because the Commando role isn't available at that point.

I did see both the other answers and the time delay, but I felt the previous answers were potentially lacking. The reply might still be helpful for a variety of reasons including but not limited to the possibility that OP hasn't yet had a chance to keep playing the game, that they might read the reply and find it useful despite having progressed further into the game, or because someone else comes along with a similar problem and reads through the thread.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

In the chapter 4 section she's likely talking about, she doesn't have a Commando in the party. You're right that paradigm setups and good use of paradigm switching is important, but a lot of the rest of your post is tangential at best to her question.

I wasn't exactly sure which part of the game was being referred to. I just knew it was Sahz and Vanille alone, so I assumed it was

Spoiler

during the later parts in Vile Peaks and Sunleth Waterscape, where they're 'permanently' separated from Hope and Lightning.

Regardless, as you pointed out, a Sabotuer can serve the same purpose as a Commando (I probably should have made that clear myself), as simply casting debuffs at an enemy slows the stagger gauge's descent, even if it's not quite as much as a Commando. A smart option might simply be to play with Vanille in lead, so that any time you need to slow the gauge, you can actively choose to cast debuffs yourself.

 

[tiornys]

Regardless, as you pointed out, a Sabotuer can serve the same purpose as a Commando (I probably should have made that clear myself), as simply casting debuffs at an enemy slows the stagger gauge's descent, even if it's not quite as much as a Commando. A smart option might simply be to play with Vanille in lead, so that any time you need to slow the gauge, you can actively choose to cast debuffs yourself.

That is a smart option, but unfortunately you're stuck with Sazh on lead whenever he's in the party in chapter 4. The ability to choose the party leader comes in quite a bit later in the game.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

That is a smart option, but unfortunately you're stuck with Sazh on lead whenever he's in the party in chapter 4. The ability to choose the party leader comes in quite a bit later in the game.

Hmm, looks like I need to play through it again, because I haven't since right before Lightning Returns came out, and I don't remember a lot of those small things.

 

[ThroughThoseMakoEyes]

The Synergist role is used to enhance the capabilities of your party. I recommend using it in conjunction with at least ONE party member that heals. It's easy to lose a ton of HP whilst trying to boost stats and rage kill your enemies.

Often, I would go with a Commando, Synergist, Medic or Medic, Senitel Synergist for extra boosts. You just have to time everything well in accordance to the enemies routine too.