Loadout
Ceremonial Staff
Cetran Armlet (I totally forgot to swap to the bracer which is better)
Genji Gloves
🟣HP Up 🟣Skill Master 🟣Steadfast Block 🟣Precision Defense Focus 🟣Magic Up 🟣First Strike 🔴Phoenix
🔵Elemental 🟢Fire and Ice 🔵Mp Absorbtion 🟢Lightning and Wind 🟢Healing 🟢Barrier 🟡ATB Boost 🟡Enemy Skill
🔴Altruistic Buff Up 🔴Altruistic Buff Up 🟢Magic Up+20 🟢Reprieve
If I were to swap anything out, it would be First Strike with Subversion. That's it. Sometimes double Firaga doesn't make Gilgamesh pull out his shield so I can hit it so it's a crapshoot whether he spends 2 minutes taking 25% damage, but it's really hard to get Aerith started without a radiant ward.
Genji Gloves is really only important for Bahamut/Titan. Aerith cannot cope with those two if they survive into phase 2, but a couple boosted aerogas makes quick work of Titan after he gets staggered. Otherwise, me likely big number.
Trancendence is an amazing skill, especially with skill master since it counts as two skills. It has the potency of a single -aga spell but you can make a down payment on it instead of needing 2 ATB at once. It's really only good during stagger though because Aerith can never be invulnerable while using it the way she can be while casting magic in the radiant ward. Also, unlike -aga spells, it doesn't stunlock enemies when they get hit. It can be dangerous to use against dangerous targets like Gilgamesh, since it has several seconds of animation lock which is plenty of time for him to kill or frog you.
I've seen Sephiroth 3 times as solo Aerith. He wasn't too stressful, but I've seen Greg probably 25. He kills me 90% of attempts. Some of his kit takes luck to avoid, and patience is required, or you might get frogslapped. I wish I could be more aggressive but I have learned over many deaths, aggressive solo Aerith is a recipe for a 3 second fight courtesy of Excalipoor's 111111111111111111111111 attacks.
Seph went very slow and I sat at full ATBs for a majority of the fight due to nerves and not having a gameplan ready for him. Soul drain is free after every shadowy chains, so is trancendence. I do plan on clearing again with a focus on more aggressive Gilgamesh and Sephiroth fights now that I have the clear and I'm not suffering from nerves. I hope these two fights aren't too boring to watch. They were definitely not boring at all to play. 😬☠️🤣