Final Fantasy X/Monster Arena

The Monster Arena is a place at the far eastern side of the Calm Lands area where you can fight fiends from all over Spira. However, when you first get there, the old man running it says all of the fiends escaped. So, prepare to do a nice big tour of Spira collecting them for him again!

Capture Weapons [ edit | edit source ]

In order to "capture" a fiend, you need to land the killing blow with a weapon that has the Capture auto-ability. This cannot be customized; instead, you need to buy it from the owner of the Monster Arena for 9,075 Gil (there's a capture weapon for every character). All of these weapons come with Capture and one empty slot for you to customize.

You can't capture a fiend by killing it with a spell from a character who has their capture weapon equipped, or by using an Overdrive on it. You can, however, use a skill (like Mug or Dark Buster) to capture them.

There are numerous abilities that will make capturing fiends (especially the tougher ones) a lot easier:

The Fiends [ edit | edit source ]

Below is a list of all the fiends in each area or category (and their species type), and any other information about them.

Besaid [ edit | edit source ]

Kilika Woods [ edit | edit source ]

Mi'ihen Highroad [ edit | edit source ]

Note: Ipirias, Thunder Flan, and Vouivre generally only appear along the Oldroad (the lower road north of the inn). Mi'ihen Fang, Raldo, and White Element generally only appear on the highroad and new road.

Mushroom Rock [ edit | edit source ]

Note: Thunder Flans also appear along Mi'ihen Oldroad.

Djose Road [ edit | edit source ]

Note: Simurghs and Basilisks generally only appear along the road leading away from the Battle Site. Ochus only appear along the road between the fork and the Moonflow. Ochus are most easily found on the first road leading to Moonflow, just before the exit to the next area.

Thunder Plains [ edit | edit source ]

Note: Iron Giants only appear in the northern section of the plains, and Cactuars appear more frequently after you've prayed at the Qactuar stones.

Macalania [ edit | edit source ]

Note: Snow Wolves, Evil Eyes, Ice Flans and Mafdets appear in the Lake section, whereas the rest in the Forest part.

Bikanel [ edit | edit source ]

Sand Worms and Zus appear more often in Sanubia Desert - Central on the left portion of the map. Cactuars appear throughout but are the rarest. By the time you collect all the Sand Worms and Cactuars, you'll most likely have captured 10 of everything else.

Calm Lands [ edit | edit source ]

Note: Ogres, Anacondaurs and Malboros appear more often in the northwest.

Sunken Cave (Cavern of the Stolen Fayth) [ edit | edit source ]

Note: The Nidhogg and Imp also appear on Mt. Gagazet, and Tonberries are quite rare (search in the green room right before entering The Chamber of the Fayth to find the highest encounter rate.)

Another place used to capture Tonberry's successfully can be found as follows: From the entrance, follow the path all the way until the first fork, then turn Right down the hall to the room with the treasure chest on the left that contains a Level 2 Key Sphere. Walk straight to the back of the room until you are off the mini-map. There is a little pocket off of the map where you can run small circles, and the encounter rate for Tonberries is high.

Mt. Gagazet [ edit | edit source ]

Note 1: Bashuras, Ahrimans, Grendels, Mandragoras, Dark Flans, and Behemoths also appear in Zanarkand Ruins, otherwise (except Bashuras) they are only encountered inside Mt. Gagazet.

Note 2: Splashers, Achelouses and Maelspikes are encountered in the underwater sections of Mt. Gagazet.

Inside Sin [ edit | edit source ]

Note 1: Demonoliths, Great Malboros and Barbatoses are only encountered in the "City of the Dead" section of Sin (Entrance).

Note 2: Geminis always come in pairs, one of them carries a sword, the other a club. Both count as a unique fiend, so you have to capture both types in order to complete the list.

Note 3: Wraiths, Geminis (both), Demonoliths, Great Malboros and Adamantoises are also encountered in Omega Dungeon, and captured there count towards Inside Sin.

Omega Ruins [ edit | edit source ]

Note 1: Great Malboros will appear here; however, unlike the ones inside Sin, these will always ambush you and their first move is always Bad Breath, so watch out. You can also use a First Strike Weapon on a character that has Provoke which will stop the Great Malboro using Bad Breath

Note 2: Demonoliths counter with Pharaoh's Curse, which inflicts poison, curse, darkness, silence, so use Hastega and Quick Hit, OR use silence attack/silence buster; they cant cast Pharaoh's when silenced. They will use Breath to petrify your party, so equip stoneproof. Adamantoises will appear here too, more often on the second area of the ruins (the series of platforms leading to Omega Weapon).

Note 3: Watch out for the Master Tonberry's everything-counter, Karma. Use Tidus or Rikku to avoid a 1-hit KO. Hastega and Auto-Pheonix are vital.

Note 4: In the North American version and HD Remaster on Omega Dungeons' fiends list there are no Demonolith, Gemini or Wraith (all of these captured in Omega Ruins counts as 'Inside Sin' as well as Great Malboro and Adamantoise).

Area Conquest [ edit | edit source ]

These are unlocked for capturing at least one of every fiend in a particular area.

Species Conquest [ edit | edit source ]

These are unlocked for getting a capturing a specific amount of all of a species of fiend.

Original [ edit | edit source ]

These are unlocked when specific conditions are met.

General Tactics [ edit | edit source ]

To even have a chance against almost any of the monster arena creations requires you to be considerably more powerful than you need to be to complete the main story line. To achieve this powerful status will require 3 things:

Although described below is a method to fully meet these 3 objectives, bear in mind that you will be able to defeat the area creations after getting the weapons required and covering less than half of the sphere grid, the species creations after covering a bit more of the sphere grid (you will need to be able to hit for 99999) and the original creations with good armor and most of the sphere grid covered. You will only need to max out the sphere grid if you plan to take on the later Dark Aeons (the final 4) and Penance. (Only on International and PS3 version)

Weapons [ edit | edit source ]

The Celestial Weapons are the way to go here. You will want to try and fully upgrade as many of the 7 weapons here as possible, or at least half upgrade them so the respective Aeon can break the damage limit. The process to go through to upgrade each character's weapon is detailed on their individual character page.

You may notice that with the Celestial Weapons, the favored big hitter, Auron, does considerably less damage than Tidus and Wakka. This is because while their weapons do more damage when they are at full HP, Auron's does more when he's on low HP. The direct effect of this is that Auron cannot be effectively used for the Monster Arena. In fact, the only characters you will find to make a big difference are Tidus, Wakka, Yuna and Rikku. At this point in the game as you should be close to completing everyone's Sphere Grid the only thing that majorly sets them apart is their Overdrive, Celestial Weapon, and in Yuna's case ability to summon.

Tidus should have his Blitz Ace overdrive, Wakka should have Attack Reels (which you should be able to get 12 hits every time with), Yuna should have all her Aeons and Rikku has her Mix overdrive. It is these features that sets these characters apart, and they are all you need for this part of the game (if you only intend to do the Monster Arena you will only need one of Yuna or Rikku).

Armor [ edit | edit source ]

You will most likely require two sets of armor for the Monster Arena, a general set and a set which protects against certain status ailments. To get the required armor, you will need to obtain (either from defeating powerful fiends or more likely buying from Wantz in Macalania) a piece of armor with 4 free slots for each character. The anti-status ailments armor should be customized to include: