Final Fantasy X: Dark Valefor

Dark Valefor is one of the superbosses in Final Fantasy X, and the first of the Dark Aeons.

Location

Dark Valefor can be found at the entrance of Besaid Village after the party gains access to the airship, and you’ll be forced to fight her if you try entering. If you did not get the Destruction Sphere treasure when you first visited Besaid, you will need to defeat this boss in order to obtain Anima, the Magus Sisters, and Yuna’s Celestial Weapon. Valefor’s second Overdrive and a Jecht Sphere (needed for Auron’s Overdrives) will also be guarded by Dark Valefor if you did not get them earlier.

Prep

As Dark Valefor is the easiest of the Dark Aeons, you don’t have to get your stats super high to be ready for this fight. You should have your characters have high Agility and Luck however, so that she can’t dodge your attacks, and a high Defense will protect you from most of her attacks. At minimum, having ‘Auto-Haste’ on your armor will be good for this fight. Celestial Weapons will make this fight go by quickly if you have them as well.

Strategy

Valefor has access to physical attacks and Sonic Wings, which will Delay one party member. She can also use Energy Ray as one of her regular attacks. Something to keep in mind: unlike Valefor’s version, Dark Valefor’s Energy Ray is a magic attack, so having high Magic Defense and Shell will mitigate the damage from it. Unlike the rest of the Dark Aeons, she cannot break the damage limit on any of her attacks outside of her Overdrive.

Dark Valefor’s Overdrive is Energy Blast. She will use it on her next turn once her Overdrive gauge is full, and will deal around 50,000 damage to the party, no matter what. Her Overdrive gauge increases by 5% when attacking, and by 15% when getting attacked.

Keeping Protect and Shell up with help mitigate Dark Valefor’s Damage (Mighty Guard or a Mighty G Mix will give both to everyone quickly). You will want to give at least one party member Auto-Life to survive Energy Blast if you don’t have high enough HP, or summon an Aeon before she casts it to take the damage for you. If your party members have a fairly high Strength stat and their Celestial Weapon, having them use Quick Hit on Dark Valefor should make the fight go fairly quickly. Since she only has 800,000 HP, you can even defeat her before she can cast Energy Blast.

Rewards

When you defeat Dark Valefor, you will earn 10,000 AP (15,000 on Overkill), but no gil. You will also regain access to Besaid Village and the temple.