PSA: How to kill the A3 GWO in two ~~easy~~ steps
For anyone who's struggled through to the Gatekeeper of Guarda only to be mercilessly pummeled into the ground in a bad hentai nightmare, these are the two keys I found to beating him when I made it through a few weeks ago:
**\\1) Burst the Body,** ***Then*** **Clean Up**: When you're first starting the fight and getting tag-teamed by everything he's got going on, it's natural to try to knock out Big G's tentacles first to reduce your incoming damage a bit. But you know what else reduces your incoming damage? Knocking the boss himself out, which stuns both his tentacles \*and\* the central mass long enough for you to turn the tide. Focus your fire on the body at the start of the fight, and once he falls down, \*ignore his weak spot\* and shift your focus to the tentacles until they're dead (ie, until their targeting triangles vanish; their visual behavior is inconsistent).
The weak point itself is honestly not that important, so don't worry if you miss it; it's only a way to deal critical damage to the boss's body, not anything more special than that. If you can at least kill off the tendies by the time he gets back up or shortly thereafter, you can cope with mano-a-manoing the body, but you probably won't have to do too much of that either, because
\-
**2)** **Timing Your Handjobs is Everything**: If you've taken a few whacks at the boss, you've probably seen him, er, 'summon' a ■■■■■ you can use your Right Hand on (it may be a futile gesture, but I'm not gonna spoil what his adds are here). What's less obvious is that you \*don't\* want to do so until a very specific point in the fight.
Reversing it immediately is an utter waste. Doing so when the Gatekeeper is stunned seems like it's better, since it does a decent hit's worth of ramming damage to him. But if you wait even longer and reverse it \*after\* the boss recovers but \*before\* he closes the gate, that lil' sucker'll actually lodge right into the gate itself, and effectively stun the main body for several(?) more rounds as he forces it back shut. And if the main body is the only active part because you used your time killing off the tentacles in step 1, well...
\-
That's free damage. Damage you can be using to knock him back down, and send him right back into his stun cycle. Damage that pushes the fight forward until he gets all huffy and enters his final phase, where you can maybe even knock him down \*again\* if you're lucky.
It's possible (though by no means reliable or necessary) to finish this entire fight with the boss never actually getting a single attack off after the first time he's knocked down. Hell, if it weren't for the annoying sentry fight before him and general floor navigation, it might even be feasible to go balls to the wall and run a party of entirely damage-dealers. Even done as an imperfect mere mortal, though, once you understand the rhythm of this fight, it's really just a big 'ol damage sponge with a few very rude potential moves in the few real turns he gets. Which reminds me...
**PS)** **If at First You Don't Succeed,** **~~Cry, Cry~~** **Try, Try Again**: This boss can do some undeniably alarming things, like unleashing a screen-jarring flurry of blows, or buffing himself out the wazoo (hope you brought your pocket ninja), or doing a full party row swap + aoe. This is why this strategy focuses on denying him the opportunities to do so as much as possible, but volatile game is volatile, and shit still happens. Survive it if you can, but if you can't, take solace in the knowledge that no two attempts of this boss are going to go quite the same way, so you just have to find the attempt he doesn't murder you too badly on. You've got this, and remember: you can tap the parapets to jump straight down in front of an incredulous Lulunarde after you revive, without waiting for the corruption itself to knock you overboard.