Promathia Mission 7-5: The Warrior's Path

Walkthrough

Head to Sealion's Den for an airship fight. This battle is uncapped.
As such, since March 2007's update, all Buffs and TP is wiped upon entering the BCNM. Sleep TP inside the BCNM if need be.
Make sure your whole party is ready (you cannot exit from this BCNM).

Chebukki siblingsYou will enter the Battlefield facing Tenzen (SAM) and the three Tarutaru Chebukki siblings: Makki-Chebukki (RNG), Kukki-Chebukki (BLM) and Cherukiki (WHM). You only need to defeat Tenzen to win the battle; the Chebukkis are invulnerable, evading all attacks and resisting all spells. (They will, however, attack and enfeeble you, and buff and cure Tenzen as they do so.) They all act about once every 20 seconds.

Kukki-Chebukki casts Firaga II, Thundaga II, Waterga III, Blizzard III, Thunder III, Choke, Burn, Frost, Rasp, Blind, Bio III, Stun, Drain, Sleepga, ? (so level 66-68)

Cherukiki casts Cure IV, Cure V, Regen III, Haste, Protect IV, Shell III, Silence, Paralyze, Slow, Diaga II, Holy, Banishga II, ? (so level 66-67)
It seems that they link with Tenzen, so they will attack the first person to engage Tenzen until that person dies; you may want someone other than your main tank to engage first and get the Tarutaru's attention.

A Beastmaster jug pet is ideal for this; if the pet is the first thing to attack Tenzen, the Tarutaru will all focus on attacking the pet, and the pet will run over to them to fight back so that your party isn't hit by the -ga spells.
Tenzen uses a Great Katana and a bow for ranged attacks. He switches between them periodically.

His weapon skills are different from the ones players use:

Amatsu: Kazakiri (Tachi: Jinpu(?), ~200)
Amatsu: Torimai (Tachi: Enpi, 2 hits, ~250)
Amatsu: Yukiarashi (Tachi: Yukikaze, ~400 + Blind)
Amatsu: Tsukioboro (Tachi: Gekko, ~500 + Silence)
Amatsu: Hanaikusa (Tachi: Kasha, ~1000 + Paralysis)
Amatsu: Tsukikage (~500, closes Cosmic Elucidation)
Oisoya (bow, ~1800, ignores Utsusemi) (maybe Namas Arrow?)

He also never "readies" weapon skills, he just uses them, which makes them hard to stun.

Tenzen of the Far EastTenzen will eat a Shogun Rice Ball at some point. This will improve his Attack, Defense, and Magic Defense considerably.
Often this happens after he uses Meikyo Shisui the first time.

Tenzen will use Meikyo Shisui at some point, and then begin to to self-Skillchain whoever has hate. After an initial 3 WS, Tenzen may or may not use the WS Amatsu: Tsukikage, an unavoidable ranged Great Katana WS that bypasses shadows, triggering the Cosmic Elucidation Skillchain which deals over 1000 damage to all players in range and triggers ejection from the BC, much like the Snoll Tzar.

Whether he uses Amatsu: Tsukikage does NOT depend on whether his 3rd Meikyo Shisui WS lands. Even if 3rd WS misses, or original target is dead, he may still use WS Amatsu: Tsukikage and it will STILL trigger Cosmic Elucidation.
He will use Meikyo Shisui multiple times at will.

Utsusemi blocks most of his Weapon Skills, and it is possible to recast Utsusemi: Ni between his WS.
His second Weapon Skill often takes 2 shadows.

Tenzen's weapon skills can be anticipated with Third Eye including Amatsu: Tsukigage.
Tenzen can be Stunned out of his Weapon Skills during Meikyo Shisui.

A Level 75 RDM/DRK could have practical use in this situation for a Chainspell+Stun strategy when Tenzen first uses Meikyo Shisui, similar to the tactic used on Suzaku (or, to a greater extent, the Dynamis Lord). This strategy has not been tested, however; only theorized.
One or more Blue Mages spamming Head Butt has a very good chance at killing the skillchain alltogether.

Tenzen will give up when he's close to being defeated, at which point you will win. It is estimated you will need to do between 12,000 and 14,000 damage. He will give up at roughly 15% HP remaining.
As of the June 2007 update, you will receive 1000 experience points upon winning. (Only once per day)

Strategy tips

It seems to be impossible to prevent him from using Meikyo Shisui by hitting him fast and hard. You need to find a way of defeating him after he uses it, by continuing to damage him without letting him land his weapon skills.

For maximum effect, try to do as much damage as you can before Tenzen eats his Shogun Rice Ball, using your own Skillchains and offensive two-hour abilities (Astral Flow, Manafont, Chainspell, Eagle Eye Shot, etc.).
On the other hand, it's also good to save some burst damage for when he uses Meikyo Shisui so that you can finish him before he is able to use all 4 Weapon Skills. Dispel any buffs cast on Tenzen.


You don't have a time limit like you did with Snoll Tzar, so you don't need to rush. But still try to do as much damage as you can while keeping everyone alive.

If Tenzen uses Meikyo Shisui, Bind/Shadowbind him and run out of range to delay his Skillchain for as long as possible.
Ignore the Chebukkis; they can't be harmed.

Spread out to avoid possible AOE damage.

This BC, similar to other maximum spike damage BCs like Maat and Snoll Tzar, is very well suited for WAR since a well-equipped WAR will do 3,000-5,000 damage, depending on duration of fight, even while taking most hits into shadows. A party with 3+ WARs will win this BC near instantly (same for a full SMN party).

A Samurai, using the standard 5 WS 2HR combo, has been recorded to do 7.1k damage to Tenzen with Soul Voice and double Minuet. Tachi: Yukikaze > Tachi: Gekko (Fragmentation) > Tachi: Kasha (Light) > Tachi: Yukikaze > Tachi: Gekko (Fragmentation) took Tenzen to roughly 40-45% HP left.

Samurai/Ranger is a very useful set up for this battle, Tenzen's Evasion seems to be rather low, making it easy to land Sidewinder on him consistently for 900-1,500 damage per hit.