i can't beat Barth part 2 (ch11 end) and dont have time to grind..time to quit?

As long as you're anywhere near normal development, you can take this guy down fairly easily with a bit of judicious upgrading and a smart strategy.

Here is a list of resources you should already have (unless you’ve spent them, of course):
6x Moonblossom Seed (Mission 24): these can be sold for a total of 36,000 gil.
3x Particle Accelerator (Mission 22): these can be used in place of Superconductors as noted
1x Entite Ring (boss drop, Barthandelus I): this can safely be sold for 60,000 gil, and is of minimal use otherwise.
1x Uraninite (boss drop, Ushumgal Subjugator): this can be used to transform Vanille’s Belladonna Wand
1x Perovskite (treasure sphere, Oerba): this can be used to transform Lightning’s Edged Carbine or Fang’s Taming Pole.

If you find yourself needing more resources, you can complete the Repair Bhakti mini-quest in Oerba. This should give you, at minimum:
2x Ultracompact Reactor: these can be used for upgrading tier 2 weaponry
1x Gold Nugget: this sells for 60,000 gil.
1x Moogle Puppet (found in a treasure sphere past enemies that you must kill during the quest): this sells for 18000 gil.

These resources should be more than sufficient. Be sure to buy some Painkillers, Mallets, and Foul Liquids. If you're using a Doctor's Code on your leader for extra healing, stock up on Potions.

Ideally, you have a Fortisol and an Aegisol to use. If so, you want to have Fang's Strength over 500, Lightning's Magic over 500, and Vanille's Magic over 400. You also want all three characters to have 2300 HP or more. Let me know if you need help with weapon/accessory upgrades to reach those metrics (or see the linked topic). Use the strategy shown here (if you have extra accessory slots, Rainbow Anklets and Rune Bracelets are good choices): http://youtu.be/qE2t9wfGRL4

If you don't have the shrouds, you have a couple of options. You can max and dismantle a Doctor's Code for one of each shroud plus an Elixir. If you aren't willing to sacrifice a Doctor's Code, and you have most characters at 3000 HP or more, you can use this strategy instead: http://youtu.be/E7Pb40TN2EY

Note that both strategies use a lot of manual command entry; you should probably change your Settings if you default to Auto-battle.

If you don't think you can make either of those strategies work out, it's also possible to use Snow as a permanent Sentinel fairly effectively. If this approach interests you, let me know and I can help you with a fleshed out strategy.

For a detailed analysis of the fight, a list of upgrades to help reach the recommended stats, an explanation of what I'm doing with the Summon, and writeups of the two strategies shown in the vids, see this topic: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/928790-final-fantasy-xiii/63113618

And let me know if you want that SEN-based strategy, need help with the upgrading, or if you have any other questions. Good luck!

t~

I'm not sure I'd call it the easiest, since the lowered damage output will require you to fight through multiple Apoptosis and Thanatosian Laughters. All of the lasers will target the SEN (with about one round of delay), but you'll still get peppered by Dazega, Cursega, and Poisonga plus the two big attacks.

Make your party Sazh/Vanille/Snow. Give maxed Rainbow Anklets to Sazh and Vanille and stock up on Foul Liquids (Daze sucks when the lasers aren't targeting you). Otherwise boost Sazh's Strength and Vanille's Magic. Give Snow a maxed Black Belt and a maxed Rune Bracelet (x2 if you have 3 slots), and either his Paladin (to reduce damage to Snow) or Umbra (to reduce damage to Sazh and Vanille).

Sazh/Vanille/Snow
1. Syn/Med/Sen (Protection)
2. Rav/Sab/Sen (Matador)
3. Rav/Rav/Sen (Mystic Tower)
4. Com/Rav/Sen (Delta Attack)
5. Com/Rav/Sen or Com/Med/Sen (Delta Attack or Solidarity)--this one depends on your development
6. Com/Med/Sen (Solidarity)

Use Protection to put Haste/Bravery on Sazh and Haste/Faith on Vanille. Build chain in Matador while Vanille inflicts Deprotect, Deshell, and Imperil. Stagger with Mystic Tower and build chain for a round post stagger, then use Delta Attack and Sazh's Blitz to do as much damage as possible during stagger. When you need healing, use Solidarity. The duplicate paradigm is there for ATB refreshing (every other round when you shift paradigms, you get a free refill on your ATB bar). Repeat the buffing and debuffing as necessary when they get reset by Apoptosis, and otherwise keep plugging away. If Apoptosis happens mid-stagger, you might try debuffing first, since the increased chain will make them easier to inflict.

I'll see if I have a save that I can use to make an example vid.

t~

Something I forgot to mention: be sure to cure Pain with Painkillers on Snow and Sazh, and cure Fog with Mallets on Vanille and Sazh.

Also, another reason I don't consider this the easiest method is because it takes a lot longer than the other methods, and you can still get killed by bad luck. I died about 10 minutes into the fight on my first recording run because Provoke fell off during Thanatosian Laughter, and Sazh got killed by lasers before Snow could re-Challenge or Vanille could heal me.

Video recorded, working on uploading it now. Assuming it uploads in under an hour, I'll edit this post with the link. Link: http://youtu.be/z4yxhcJdjuA

t~

Yusunnepho posted...

My lack of planning aside, I was wondering, is this the battle where the amount of damage you manage to inflict while dude's charging decreases the amount of hits of Thanatosian Laughter? If so, noticing that mechanic was what saved me a ton of pain.

That's the first Barthandelus fight, and the attack that you can weaken is Destrudo.

t~