Soloing Diabolos Prime...a guide with pictures!

So, yesterday, I promised a guide on how to solo Diabolos Prime, and today I deliver. And here I am with how to solo Diabolos Prime.

Preparation

Preparation is 90% of victory, or so says Sun Tzu. Anyway, as far as gear goes for the puppetmaster, here's what I used.

The first thing that I want noticed is that I used a mage subjob, in this case Black Mage. Yes, it's underlevelled, but bear with me here. Really, one key thing here is the INT. The magic number here is 76, and that can be earned with the right subjob and the right gear. Once 76 is hit, no more INT is needed. The other things of note is the Puppetry Tobe, which adds in more MP for the puppet. However, if the Merke is available with the Pet +Magic Attack and +Magic Accuracy, use that instead. Pantin legs and Pantin feet are also very helpful here. The rest of the gear is just window dressing.

And there are the attachments that I used. Now, in case you're wondering, I used the following:

Scanner, Tranquilizer, Loudspeaker, Mana Booster, Strobe, Condensor, Optical Fiber, Flashbulb, Mana Tank, Mana Tank II, Economizer, and Mana Conserver.

I equipped my puppet for more magic speed than magic attack, so the puppet will cast more often than hit hard. The Strobe and Flashbulb are in there so to keep Diabolos's regen is kept under control. And the more MP the puppet has, the longer it can go without using Deactivate-Activate-Deploy. I would suggest avoiding the Ice Maker and the Mana Channler, as it can potentially slow down the casting in return for damage. Remember, the key to winning this is to cast often, and keep his regen down.

Fighting Diabolos Prime

When I enter the fight, I start off by using a Dark Maneuver and a Light Maneuver. This will

cause the puppet to to use Dia II. This prevents Diabolos's regen from occuring for a good long while. At this point, I throw up 3 ice maneuvers so my puppet can go nuke happy. Eventually, my puppet will run out of MP, and at this point, I use a Dark Maneuver or two to activate the Economizer to give my automaton MP, and then continue nuking.

At this point, my puppet will not cast Dia II any more, so now I rely on Flashbulb and Strobe to keep Diabolos from regaining HP. Maintain a Fire Maneuver and a Light Maneuver to stop Diabolos's regen while still using an ice maneuver for nuking speed and damage. Don't be afraid, however, to use 3 Ice Maneuvers to do some serious damage.

Keep up the damage and keep Diabolos regen away, and eventually, he will fall like a house of cards. It's not really all that hard when one knows what he's doing, just keep working and keep maneuvers up.

Where else could this work?

Now, in one of the comments made in my previous post, it was asked if this could work in the CoP battle 3-5 against Diabolos. While the level is capped at 40, all of the basic elements are there. INT may pose a problem, but all of the attachments are there, and the battle is set up in the same way. But enough about Diabolos.

Another possible spot this may work against is in the ACP 11 battle. As long as the crystal just stands there and does nothing, the puppet may be able to nuke its heart out. As long as the crystal doesn't draw in, both the master and puppet are safe. The question then is, can the puppet do enough damage to kill it in time before timing out?

And Fenrir? No way. Fenrir will attack the master before the master can get in range.

Why this works.

This works because of the rather strange hate relationship between the puppet and the master. What isn't unusual is the fact that the hate is completely seperate between the puppet and the master. What is unusual is that the master is not put on the hate list for the actions of the puppet, unless the puppet physically hits the target. This why when the puppet does any action outside of physically smacking it, the monster isn't claimed. It can be nuked, shot, and even flashed and provoked, but the monster will not be claimed until it's physically hit.

Diabolos Prime is an unusual battle where Diabolos Prime will stand there and wait for the party members to get in range, or get a party member on its hate list. And since pets aren't party members, and since the puppet can do any number of things that do not place the master on the hate list (see above), Diabolos will not do draw in and will not attack.

Could SE fix this? Perhaps, by moving Diabolos back so he's out of range of Deploy, or drawing in the puppet and master as soon as it gets hit, or changing the nature of the hate relationship between the puppet and master, they very well could. But until and unless they do so, I think I'll try to milk it for what it's worth.

I hope that this post has been helpful to someone, and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.