Let’s talk about the Experiment. And by Experiment, I mean the beastly level-5 machina in Djose Temple that you have to defeat to get 100% in FFX-2.
If your experience is anything like mine was, you get annihilated after the first turn.
You might be thinking to yourself “This is impossible” or “Do I have to grind for hours on end?” The answer is no.
There is an easy strategy to beat the level-5 Experiment without any grinding required.
With this strategy, you also do not need to progress far in Via Infinito, although I recommend completing Den of Woe before taking on the Experiment, since you can get some good accessory drops that you might want to use in this strategy.
How to Get the Level 5 Experiment
To get the level 5 experiment, you need two things:
- A manual to restore the Experiment
- Enough Assembly Parts from the digging minigame in Bikanel Desert
How to Get the Experiment Manual
To get the manual to restore the experiment, speak to an Al Bhed to the right of the treasure chest in the left corridor on the bottom floor of Djose Temple.
You can find manuals in other places, too, but you only need one if you intend to defeat the Experiment only when it is at its MAX level.
How to Get Assembly Parts
To get Assembly Parts, play the dig minigame in Bikanel Desert. Go to the yellow X to dig. White X’s reveal Sphere Break coins, Al Bhed language primers, items, and most-of-the-time enemy encounters.
To get assembly parts fast, I recommend turning off enemy encounters, avoiding white exes where possible, and aim just for the assembly parts.
How to Calculate the Number of Assembly Parts you Need
There is an easy way and a hard way to calculate the number of assembly parts you need. First, let’s go over the easy way.
The Easy Way to Calculate Assembly Parts
To calculate assembly parts the easy way, just don’t bother counting and check back every once in a while.
- Do the minigame about 60 times, which is a rough estimate of how long it will take to get to level 5 across Attack, Defense, and Special.
- Challenge the Experiment to see if you hit the mark.
- If not, restart your game from before you assembled the Experiment and do some more digging.
The Harder Way to Calculate Assembly Parts
To calculate Assembly Parts the hard way, keep track of the Assembly Parts you escavate and tally the points manually.
To get level 5 across the board, you need 38 points in each category: Attack, Defense, and Special.
It is hard to know exactly how much digging you can do. For example, you might have many points in Attack, but barely any points in Special.
To see the parts you have collected for their various categories, check the panel in Djose Temple periodically and tally the points.
| Assembly Part | Points |
| A | 1 |
| S | 3 |
| Z | 5 |
| Scrap Metal | 0 |
The #1 Strategy to Defeat the Experiment
This is my preferred strategy to defeating the experiment. Here’s why:
- You hardly have to do AP grinding to get the required Dressphere abilities
- You do not need to grind experience and you do not need to be a high level
- You do not need to go far in Via Infinito
- The strategy relies on items you are likely to already have
- You can create space to get Annihilator for the Gun Mage if you have not already
Overall Strategy
The overall aim for this strategy is to defeat the Experiment in two hits doing greater than 9,162 in damage. The level 5 experiment has 18,324 HP. Two powerful moves is enough to annihilate the enemy before it annihilates you.
Dresspheres, Garment Grids, Accessories, and Abilities You Need
Here is the checklist for everything you need:
Dresspheres
All you need is the Dark Knight. Have two equipped with Dark Knight.
Optionally, for the third choose Gun Mage if you have not gotten the Annihilator Blue Bullet ability.
Abilities
Have both your Dark Knights with Charon. Charon is an ability that does huge damage while sacrificing the party member.
The damage done is double the amount of HP you have.
The beauty of Charon is it only costs 20 AP and there’s no prerequisites for the ability. You can get the ability in less than five minutes in a battle by using my AP grinding strategy.
Garment Grids
Garment Grid does not matter in this battle if your HP is higher than 4,581 for each Dark Knight.
If your HP is not high enough, you can choose Downtrodder or Tempered Will and traverse over the icon that gives Double HP.
Accessories
Choose accessories that give you an HP boost that gives each Dark Knight over 4,581 HP.
The Crystal Bangle accessory doubles HP. You can find one in a chest at the Youth League headquarters.
Items
If you still do not have over 4,581 HP with accessories or Garment Grids, you can use Stamina Tablets.
Battle Strategy
In battle, have your two Dark Knights with 4,581 HP or greater use Charon right away. The battle will be over in seconds.
If each attack gets over 9,162 in damage, which it will, you defeat the Experiment.
Bonus: Get Annihilator for Blue Mage
If you have not gotten the Annihilator for the Blue Mage, this strategy gives you room to delay winning until you get the Blue Mage ability.
Holding off will be challenging and may take resetting the battle. With this strategy, it can be done.
Consider modifying your strategy with the following:
- Select the Gun Mage for your third character
- Give your Gun Mage defense and HP accessories and optionally a defense or White Magic Garment Grid
- Give defense or more HP accessories to your Dark Knights
- Cast Mighty Guard at the beginning of battle if you have it
- Have the entire party use recovery items (and likely lots of Phoenix Downs) until your Gun Mage learns Annihilator
Alternative Strategies
Any strategy where you can get over 9,162 in two attacks is a winning strategy.
You can also get Cat Nip from level 40 in Via Infinito, which does 9,999 damage in critical health with slow inflicted. You can start the battle in critical health and use a fast Dressphere like thief with ‘Strike First’ ability.
You can also get ‘Strike First’ from Highroad Winds garment grid or from the Spring Shoes accessory.
This strategy has two cons:
- You must do 40 levels of Via Infinito first
- You have one shot at the beginning of battle; this does not leave an opening to get the Gun Mage ability
Join my Stream
We can have a conversation about Final Fantasy X-2 or our love for Final Fantasy X in my Twitch stream. Hopefully this strategy was helpful, but we can talk more on my stream. I hope to see you there!
