First appearing in the Shadowbringers expansion for Final Fantasy 14, Gaia is an absolute powerhouse in Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy. Boasting the second-highest attack stat in the game (trailing only behind Cloud), she is great for both PvP encounters and damaging the boss. While her best use is as an all-out attacker, there are a few builds to be aware of, depending on what abilities you have available to you and what your team composition looks like.
Gaia is great for hitting hard and fast, specializing in quick strikes and applying debuffs to opponents through her skills. If you’re looking to step up your game with Gaia, keep reading below! We’re going to go over which abilities to use, fight strategies, and even stat prioritization.
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Gaia’s Stats
As a unit primarily focused on damage-dealing, abilities assigned to your support bar should lean heavily toward boosting her attack stat. While defense and HP should not be entirely neglected, a high attack stat means Gaia can catch and defeat weakened opponents more easily, and bring down the boss’s HP bar more effectively. Additionally, as we’ll go over a bit later, Gaia has some other handy ways to help mitigate damage from any source.
Gaia’s Passive and Unique Abilities
Necklace of Eternal Ice
Gaia’s Passive and Unique Ability may just be the most important tools in her kit. The passive, Necklace of Eternal Ice, grants Gaia a defensive boost in direct proportion to any action speed boost she receives.
While this does not scale with movement speed bonuses conferred by the Haste and Sprint abilities, it does scale in tandem with the bonuses provided by Diamond Destroyer and Gaia’s Unique Ability, Reinforcement.
Reinforcement
By holding down the attack button and activating Reinforcement, Gaia is granted a 50% boost to her action speed for 20 seconds, meaning her abilities come out faster, her rapid attacks are quicker, and her defense—through her passive—is also increased by 50% for the same duration. Diamond Destroyer similarly buffs Gaia’s defense and action speed, with a 50% boost to both.
Gaia’s UR Abilities
Diamond Destroyer
- Type: Invincible/Special Attack
- Area: Frontal Circle
- Special Effect: Debuff
- Cooldown: 50 Sec.
Speaking of Diamond Destroyer, it is also one of the best UR moves in the entire game. Aside from the buffing properties of the move, Diamond Destroyer also has the benefit of covering a large area in its attack radius, massively decreasing the action speed of all foes caught in the blast while simultaneously greatly increasing your attack damage.
Given its 50-second cooldown, I would generally advise saving this for burst, as the attack increase is an important step in maximizing your damage output on a boss for those short windows. However, it can also be used in a pinch to clear out groups of enemies or give a brief period of invincibility.
This move is a must-have if you plan to take Gaia into the mid-to-higher ranks in Ranked mode. The buff it provides is essential to making Gaia work effectively, and the invincibility frames would be dearly missed, as Gaia has very limited mobility tools to escape any engagements or pools of damage.
Fated Moment
- Type: Invincible/Special Attack
- Area: single (Area)
- Special Effect: Debuff
- Cooldown: 75 Sec.
Fated Moment serves as Gaia’s single most powerful attack, dealing severe damage to those it hits. While its origin is centered on a single target, the ability does have a large blast radius, damaging any enemies who stand within the circle at the time of detonation.
If hit, enemies also have their speed decreased for eight seconds. It is worth noting that this blast is not instantaneous when the ability is used—it comes out after a short delay.
The area this attack covers is quite significant and deters other players from entering the affected zone, lest they be hit by one of the strongest attacks in the game. When used on a boss, this creates a zone that both provides a bit of cover for allies and prevents the enemy team from getting in close to the boss and bursting (unless they have an ability with invincibility).
While it is extremely powerful, it does feel less necessary than something like Diamond Destroyer or even Hopeful Dance. If you have other attack options available to you, you can still make it quite high up the ladder.
Gaia Only Abilities
Hopeful Dance
- Type: Attack
- Area: Frontal Circle
- Special Effect: None
- Cooldown: 22 Sec.
This move has Gaia leap forward, dealing medium damage in a frontal circle. The distance this move covers is really great, working as a gap-closer to pick off straggling or injured enemies, or as just a nice opening move to get things started. The damage it deals is surprisingly high, and it can catch multiple enemies in its area of effect, making it great for single-targets and groups alike.
Another great aspect of this move is that it is only on a 22-second cooldown. There’s no real reason to save it for use on a boss, as by the time a PvP engagement ends, it should either be ready or will be ready after using your other attacks during the burst.
The move also comes out extremely quickly, especially if you’re maintaining Reinforcement throughout the round. There are very few ways to react to this move once started. I get more use out of this ability than any other single move, and consider it a top priority, as well.
Spell-in-Waiting
- Type: Other
- Area: Cone
- Special Effect: Debuff
- Cooldown: 34 Sec.
Taken from Gaia’s first appearance in one of Final Fantasy 14‘s best raid tiers, Spell-in-Waiting launches a frontal cone attack that decreases the speed of foes hit by a whopping 70% for five seconds. It makes opponents’ movement, recovery, and attack speeds slower, allowing you to get your own abilities in without fear of retaliation.
In many cases, hitting an enemy with this actually saves you from needing to use your other attacking abilities, as your rapid attacks can often be enough to take out an enemy before they recover.
While this is a very strong PvP tool, it finds very little use against bosses, though you can certainly still hit opposing players if aimed appropriately. I don’t consider this a necessity, though, as other tools can certainly find use in Gaia’s kit. However, if you have a coordinated team, this can be a quick way to end group fights if more than one enemy is caught in the cone.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
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Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Other Abilities to Consider
Selphie/Wall
- Type: Boost
- Area: Self
- Special Effect: Barrier
- Cooldown: 36 Sec.
This move decreases damage taken by 80% and nullifies status ailments. By far the most powerful general-use defensive tool in the game, Selphie/Wall will ensure that you aren’t staggered and massively increase your chances of survival in an unwanted encounter with another player. The status nullification is great, too, as it prevents things like stun or poison from hampering you.
While it is true that many players in Diamond and above carry Earth Breaker to get around barriers, I take the same philosophy here as I do when playing against blue in Magic: The Gathering—make them have it. If they have it, and it’s not on cooldown, great, they can level the playing field against you. If they do not have it, or it is on cooldown, then you are at a significant advantage defensively. I find it is better to have this on your bar rather than playing around its situational counters.
Hope/Renew
- Type: Recovery
- Area: Self
- Special Effect: None
- Cooldown: 28 Sec.
Alternatively, you could also carry a healing move like Hope/Renew, which fully heals the player who uses it. While it does not provide any defensive benefit, Gaia’s strong defense stat when under Reinforcement means she can take a few extra hits and get by. Hope/Renew is a great self-heal, and the short cooldown means you can reapply more frequently than other healing alternatives.
Heal
- Type: Recovery
- Area: All Allies
- Special Effect: None
- Cooldown: 38 Sec.
Heal is a group-wide 40% HP restoration. It’s great in a pinch, but not an ideal use of an ability slot for Gaia, as you don’t want to focus much on taking up a support role. Still, if healing is tight in your group, this may be worth taking.
Ace/Fire RF
- Type: Attack
- Area: Ranged
- Special Effect: None
- Cooldown: 46 Sec.
Despite coming from one of the most maligned Final Fantasy titles, Ace has become a mainstay on attack bars at high ranks. It does severe damage, and the range is substantial, hitting all enemies in a far-reaching line in front of Gaia.
With an attack boost, this can outright eliminate foes, and Gaia’s multiple speed boosts mean it comes out quickly. When used on a boss, it can still hit opposing players in the distance if aimed appropriately, and does much more damage than any other general-use attack.
Earth Breaker
- Type: Special Attack
- Area: Ranged
- Special Effect: Barrier Breaking
- Cooldown: 36 Sec.
This low-damage attack is only used in PvP, serving as a barrier-breaker. When used on an opponent with a barrier, it also does additional damage, and its wide line area of effect means it can hit multiple foes at once. More of a situational choice, as Gaia’s other abilities are already so strong that barrier-breaking may not be a necessity, especially with such a long cooldown.
Thundaga
- Type: Attack
- Area: Area
- Special Effect: None
- Cooldown: 32 Sec.
Despite being a series mainstay, this is a bit of a last resort move, as Thundaga only does low damage in a wide area centered on Gaia. This is not a great move against bosses or in one-on-one player bouts, but it does instantly clear out enemies around a crystal, and can catch multiple opponents at once.
I would much rather have something like Spell-in-Waiting, Ace/Fire RF, or even a barrier over this in most cases, but it does have niche uses depending upon party composition.
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Battle Strategies
Strengths
As noted earlier, Gaia is best suited to situations where she is expected to deal damage and little else. She has a great capacity for bringing down the boss through her UR abilities and Hopeful Dance, while also being able to leverage those same abilities and Spell-in-Waiting against opposing players.
Her ability to take down groups is especially great, as anyone caught by any of her debuffs is easily cleaned up by allies or Gaia’s own follow-up attacks. As her moves all hit in an area, she can take out more than one player at a time if they are tightly grouped, or even hit foes as collateral damage when bursting down a boss.
Hopeful Dance is particularly versatile, as it can be used to pick off weakened foes quite easily, and the short cooldown means it can be used liberally.
Priorities
First and foremost, keep Reinforcement up at all times. It is a massive boost to both Gaia’s survivability and her damage output. Start by clearing out crystals at the beginning of a match. Gaia can venture out relatively safely on her own, as her rapid attack is extremely powerful and cleans up the smaller monsters quickly.
Once the initial crystal hunting is complete, look for weakened players or groups you can pick off, closing the distance with Hopeful Dance and debuffing with Spell-in-Waiting. That said, you should not engage the entire enemy team alone—stick with allies in PvP scenarios when possible. Gaia is looking to reach maximum bravery ASAP so she can hit the boss with her Fated Moment and Diamond Destroyer, and supporting allies through heals or helping clear out a crystal they are working on is not worth the time, usually.
Weaknesses
While Gaia excels in group combat and dealing damage to bosses, her one-on-one fighting capabilities are not the best unless she gets the drop on people. Characters like Cloud and Prompto can stun and kill her easily if she doesn’t have a barrier up, and Terra can keep her at a distance, whittling Gaia’s health down before she ever has a chance to engage.
Gaia’s UR abilities also have very short i-frames, meaning she is much more vulnerable to attacks from enemies. For example, if a Cloud is charging up his Omnislash, Gaia can’t rely on countering with her own UR ability to avoid damage, and the animation for both Fated Moment and Diamond Destroyer will end significantly sooner than Cloud’s abilities.
Many other characters have a trading advantage with Gaia in this same way, such as Lightning’s Army of One. Additionally, Gaia does not have any way to easily disengage from a fight, as her run speed is a bit slow, and she comes with no inherent evasion or mobility tools.
Final Thoughts
Gaia is a great character to have in any party, dealing significant damage to bosses and other players alike. Her ability pool gives her great versatility in how she can approach each combat scenario, but very few options or uses beyond that. Gaia is all about picking your spots and striking down unsuspecting foes before they even have a chance to respond, and taking out huge chunks of a boss’s HP quickly.
