Final Fantasy VI Bosses

"If you walk without rhythm, you won't attract the worm". If only it were that simple! Abyss Worm is the nastiest creature of the Cloister of Trials, as its defenses are so omni-present. It has quite a lot of Defense and will either absorb or negate any magical damage unless it's Holy- or non-elemental. Few characters will be able to apply their full force versus this thing. It's primarily a trading between damage and healing, as there's little you can do about this thing's attacks. Expand Full Strategy

The parts to this battle: Air Force, Laser Gun (the part to the right of Air Force), and Missile Bay (the dark red part below Air Force). In the SNES game, the Missile Bay was light grey like the Laser Gun. Why they decided to change *that* of all things will forever be a mystery.

Missile Bay fires off Missile attacks. Nothing ground-shaking there. If it gets weak and reaches 1536 HP - that's after taking 1464 HP damage - it might get a shot at using Launcher. Laser Gun uses Magitek Laser and Atomic Rays. If it hits 1536 HP – after taking 1764 HP damage - it loses the Atomic Rays option, but gains Diffractive Laser, which is slightly weaker than Atomic Rays.

Air Force itself will just use Magitek Laser and Diffractive Laser. When Laser Gun dies, a Bit will be released. Bit is an opponent that takes no turns; the only thing it does is float about on constant Runic stand-by, absorbing all your Magic spells. At this point, Air Force will try to self-apply Haste status (and fail, as he's immune to Slow) and start counting down; at this point, the Bit will leave the battlefield and Air Force will use Wave Cannon, a very strong multi-target Lightning-elemental attack. By this point, you should be fully healed though, so you won't die from it if all is well. After Wave Cannon, Air Force will launch another Bit and start counting again.

The first thing on your mind is taking out Missile Bay. If you have Locke in the party, try to Steal for as long as he's around; Missile Bay has a rare Debilitator you probably don't have yet. Zona Seeker is a brilliant summon here, as the Shell status can really help you out in this battle, and once Missile Bay is gone, you can safely summon Kirin to override all Sap effects with the positive Regen blessings.

Heal regularly, keep your defenses up, and you'll defeat Air Force in no time at all. If you're really having trouble, you can break Thunder Rods. Something to remember if you're playing the game blindfolded. Or just blind.

An alternate strategy if you picked three characters that all heavily rely on Magic (Locke, Relm, Celes, for example) is the following. Since you want to prevent Bit from showing up above all else, don't kill Laser Gun. Instead, you can stop his attacks for long periods of time if you combine the Slow and Stop status ailments on it. Kill off Missile Bay, use your speed-reducing grey magic on Laser Gun and focus all spells on Air Force. No Bit, no Wave Cannon, no fuss. Expand Full Strategy

There are a few oddities about this thing. First off, it's supposed to be a scary Ymir upgrade, a task at which it fails. Second, notice how the shell is Floating but the head isn't? The tale of a creature whose head was too heavy to carry hasn't been new since Catoblepas, but I've never seen it applied to a snail before. Angler Whelk also made an appearance in the 1996 Square game 'Bahamut Lagoon', which never hit the shores of America. Same name, same sprite, has a tendency to appear when you destroy buildings with Thunder-techs.

Also, the game designers made a little mistake we're going to exploit here; we were never supposed to obtain more than one Dragon Claws from this fight, but we're getting two. Just watch me.

The AI script of the head is simple. If you damage the head two times, it'll retract into its shell, disappearing from the battlefield. It'll remain there for 20 seconds, at which point is comes out again. It'll use Battle, !Petriblast, El Nino, and Megavolt without causing itself any difficulties, so be ready for any of them at all times. The shell attacks by itself, and is no longer just an auto-counter dummy. Battle, Megavolt, and 1000 Needles may appear at all times, of which 1000 Needles should be watched for especially. When the head has retracted, it'll stop using its normal attacks and switch over to Magnitude 8. Whenever the shell is damaged, it has a 33% chance at retorting with Gigavolt.

The strategy we're aiming for is simple. If one of the parts dies, the other one dies as well, but will NOT give us the item. Thus, if we want both sets of Dragon Claws (and we certainly do, as Angler Whelk is the only source for Dragon Claws in the game), we have to kill them both at the same time.

First, our defenses! If you didn't cast Float earlier, do so at the start of the battle. Zona Seeker helps against Megavolt, Gigavolt, and El Nino. Golem and/or Fenrir protect against Battle and !Petriblast. You could have Celes on Runic stand-by for Megavolt and Gigavolt, but it's not worth it. Now, let's kill this snail.

Since both targets are susceptible to Instant Death attacks and Petrify, the two best strategies are using Banish and using Catoblepas's Demon Eye. However, we don't want to take any chances, do we? First, if you have the Vanish spell, cast it on the shell to ensure that Banish/Demon Eye will hit it. Remember, this is not a bug exploit; the shell is susceptible to instant death attacks, and setting Clear just makes sure the intended move hits, exactly what it was always supposed to do. Sadly, we can't apply Sleep or Stop to make sure Banish/Demon Eye works on the head, because both attacks check for the target's Stamina (in which case those steps are ignored). So, we'll just have to take our chances here. Since Demon Eye is more accurate than Banish, it takes precedence. If the head is missed, I suggest you reload the game. Expand Full Strategy

The blue Behemoth King 1, despite his appearance, is almost a pure spell caster. He'll normally attack with Blizzara, Blizzaga, and Holy spells which all hit with considerable force. If he hits the 10240 Hit Point mark, he'll get more Blizzaga spells than before and throw (enemy) Meteor in the mix, which hurts a bundle (around 1000 on every character, pretty much the same force Intangir used to throw (enemy) Meteor attacks on you).

If a character of yours is under the influence of Reflect, he'll target the character and use !Devil Claw to remove the Reflect status (the message "Effect of "Reflect" vanished" will appear) and then return to his normal AI script. If multiple characters are under the influence of Reflect, he'll go down from character #1 to character #4, alternating between !Devil Claw turns and normal AI script turns. Note that characters with Reflect Rings still yield the "Effect of "Reflect" vanished" notion yet keep the status. If Behemoth King 1 is turned into an Imp, it'll respond by changing its AI Script. The boss will now receive auto-criticals from being turned into an Imp and will proceed to use two Battle attacks every turn for three turns, after which it'll cast the Imp spell to try and remove the Imp status. It won't try to do this if it has the Reflect status at the moment, though.

Behemoth King 1, if hit by the Holy spell, will counter with (enemy) Meteor. Sadly, due to a bug, this overrides the other normal counter (that of having a 33% chance at countering every other damaging attack with battle), so the next time you attack, the party will also be countered with a (enemy) Meteor attack. In other words, the Holy spell eventually sends two extra (enemy) Meteor attacks down your throat, so don't do it. The Borghese and Holy Dragon Rages cast Holy; ignore them.

What to do? The best way to deal with the blue Behemoth King 1 is a combination of Imp and Stop. With this done, give it everything you have. Cast Hastega to speed up the process. Summoning Fenrir or Golem helps protect against stray physicals from the opposing side. Fira and Firaga really hurt him. Gau's Devil Fist Rage gives Gau inherent Haste and makes him use Will o' the Wisp; it's great for this battle. If you don't have access to either the Imp or Stop status ailments, Celes's Runic can really help if you brought her. Phantom Rush, Fixed Dice, Dragon Horn Jumps - you know what works. Expand Full Strategy

This Behemoth King 2 is a little simpler. He'll just use Battle, !Hypno Gas, the Death spell, or (enemy) Meteor. He won't use Death until the second turn, and he won't use (enemy) Meteor until the third (after which he resets back). If he successfully uses !Hypno Gas on a person, he'll immediately target that person with four consecutive Battle attacks (of which the first one is sure to land). That's about it.

The undead Behemoth King 2's one weakness is the instant death attack. It can be killed by Banish, Snare, and the Air Anchor Tool, and it is hurt by Tiger, Gravity, etc. Since Behemoth King 2's first turn isn't dangerous and he has no threatening counters, the Air Anchor really is a great option to use. The Twilight Requiem from Mog houses both Cave-In and Snare which both truly cripple the massive menace. Since Behemoth King 2 is Undead and lacks Instant Death protection anyway, the Raise spell is a glorious option; the Raise spell also works on an Undead with Instant Death protection, mind you, but here it feels less like taking advantage of the system. Expand Full Strategy

If you have any Imp equipment (Tortoise Shield, Saucer, Reed Cloak), throw it on! The Blue Dragon is all about Water-elemental attacks, and that's what Imp equipment absorbs. Don't equip Ice Shields, as Aqua Breath will hit twice as hard when you don't have any Imp equipment; Flame Shields are even worse, as they are weak against Water-elemental attacks in general. Thunder Shields are great as they null the effects of Aqua Breath (as it's part Wind-elemental) and halve all damage done by Flash Rain (as it's part Ice-elemental); Force Shields halve the damage done by Water-elemental attacks in general, too. Minerva Bustier wearers shine once again; Minerva Bustier nulls Aqua Breath and Flash Rain and halves damage done by all other Water-elemental attacks. Equipping Snow Scarfs on Gau, Mog, and Umaro will allow them to absorb the Flash Rain attacks. Relics protecting from Seizure (that'd be Ribbon, Angel Ring and Miracle Shoes) are great, too.

As soon as the battle starts, the Blue Dragon will attack with Tsunami. If Strago is in your party and hasn't learned from either the Enuo random encounters or the Master Tonberry enemy yet, here's your chance. Normally, the blasted creature will attack with Battle and Flash Rain; believe me, Seizure will get very annoying very quickly if you don't have protection against the status. When Blue Dragon dives beneath 16384 HP, he'll also start attacking with Aqua Breath and Flash Rain. Every 40 seconds, Blue Dragon will have stored enough water for a Tsunami attack as well. All in all, you will be continuously pounded by multi-target attacks. Any Magic spell or damaging attack you use against the Blue Dragon may be countered by Battle, as usual.

The difficult part of the Blue Dragon's AI script is the Rippler spell. To put it simply (or as simply as possible), Blue Dragon will use Rippler if:

1. One of your characters has the Haste status. If so, it will target that character; if more than one character has the Haste status, it picks the first one with the status in your formation, going from top to bottom.
2. If Blue Dragon isn't already enhanced by the Haste status.
3. If Blue Dragon isn't enhanced with the Safe status.
4. If it has been two turns since (not counting the 40-second attack) Blue Dragon last used Rippler.

If all those conditions are met, Blue Dragon will cast Slow on itself and proceed to use Rippler to try to steal the Haste status and give your character the Slow status instead. So what to do? Throw up the boring old blah-blah barriers: Mighty Guard, Wall, Life Guard, Earth Wall, Moon Song, and so on. If you brought Shadow, you do not want him to be the victim of Rippler, ever (Interceptor could be stolen). Don't apply the Haste status. Attack with Lightning-elemental spells if possible. Valigarmanda's Tri-Disaster isn't absorbed, so that works; Thundaga is stronger, though. Lightning Scrolls work great, but Thunder Blades are even more powerful. The same old stuff still works. The mages should stick to Lightning-elemental attacks. Edgar makes a good Dragon Horn Dragoon, as usual. Sabin's Phantom Rush beats all, like usual. Setzer's GP Rain is still stronger than Slot, while the Fixed Dice (especially when paired with the Master's Scroll) are superior to both of them. Cyan can't really do his job as usual (though you can set him up as a utility man). Gau's Aspiran Rage allows him to absorb all Water-elemental attacks while making him attack with Gigavolt, a strong Lightning-elemental attack that will really hurt Blue Dragon. Actinian and Exocite also allow Ragers to absorb Water-elemental attacks.

You know, this battle's ease doesn't mean that the Blue Dragon is weak; on the contrary, with regular multi-target magical spells packing some power behind them and no crippling status vulnerabilities, the Blue Dragon is a fairly solid contender. It's just that the fact that your characters are becoming more overpowered really begins to show by now. If Phantom Rush and Dragon Horn Dragoons weren't enough, you get to use Fixed Dice/Master's Scroll, equip armor like the Minerva Bustier and Cat-Ear Hood, and have access to all the awesome no-questions-asked attacks such as Grand Delta and Phantom Rush. Expand Full Strategy

While the name 'Redux' is simply a gimmick to help distinguish between the two sets of dragons, it might as well have stood for 'reduction' in this case. Maybe Blue Dragon was flipping through his big brother's lad mags when they were dealing out the fancy upgrades, or maybe the head of the GBA remake team has a severe disliking for all things blue. We may never know the cause, but one thing is clear; Blue Dragon (Redux) is the almost comically inept one of the gang.

Blue Dragon (Redux) will attack twice every turn, either physically, with !Blue Fang (sets Stop) or with an multi-target Water-elemental attack. He'll counter any damage done to him with a 33 % shot at Attack. Whenever a character has the Protect, Shell or Haste status, Blue Dragon (Redux) will set Darkness, Poison and Slow on itself and try to swap the statuses with a Rippler attack. That's about it. All Water-elemental attacks are easily absorbed with one of the three defensive pieces of Imp equipment, so no worries there. Rippler, due to the Imp immunity bug, can be blocked with a Ribbon. Alternatively, you could just not apply the positive statuses and cast Slow and Bio on Blue Dragon (Redux) to see it throw itself around its apartment. Fenrir's Howling Moon and Golem's Earthen Wall are the part of the Maginot Line that isn't a target of Rippler so feel free to apply them.

Thundaga spells are very powerful, obviously. Any old attacks works like a charm in this fight. Gau and Gogo can Rage something like Aspiran or Trillium to absorb the Water-elemental onslaught. This is really the easiest fight in the Dragon's Den. Seriously, for fun I sometimes don't listedlisten to my own strategies and just damage and heal to the best of my poorly leveled abilities; it was easy enough in this fight every time I gave it a go. Just equip the Tortoise Shield you should have and cast Thundaga and such. Expand Full Strategy

Interesting trivia: the Japanese game showed much more skin on the Chadarnook (Goddess) image. Nothing horrifying and ungodly like any kind of ladyparts, but still, more skin. Anyway, here's an odd encounter. It's a living painting of the Esper Lakshmi, possessed by the demon Chadarnook. You already knew that. Even if you don't care about art in general or Owzer's pathetic pleas, there really isn't any point to damaging the painting; as soon as Chadarnook (Phantasm) is exorcized, it won't be a threat anymore. So, the strategy is clear to us; wait until Chadarnook (Phantasm) shows its face, and hurt it until it dies. We've been doing an awful lot of hurting so far, so we should be well prepared. You'll start out facing the Goddess painting. It'll use either Battle or the dreaded, blasted Entice attack. Fortunately, the effects of Entice are undone whenever your opponent changes, so it's not as much a bother as it could have been in this specific case. After that first turn, the demon will reveal itself.

Chadarnook attacks with Lightning-elemental spells (Thundara and Thundaga) and the confusing Flash Rain; sparkly as it may look, Flash Rain is actually Ice- and Water- elemental and has nothing to do with Lightning. The demon won't use Flash Rain until it starts getting weaker though: when it hits 15360 HP (after taking 14640 HP worth of damage, in other words), to be precise. The demon Chadarnook will always hide when he has been damaged five times, as well as after 40 seconds. Unfortunately, (and possibly unintentionally), it seems that the painting's timer is also used when Chadarnook checks his 40 seconds, so if you faced Chadarnook for 35 seconds and the monster changes, Chadarnook will only be there for five seconds before returning. This is particularly frustrating, especially if you'd just finished putting in all your commands as soon as Chadarnook appeared, leaving you to attack the Goddess a few times in a row. Speaking of which, attacking the Goddess is bad news. Not only is it pointless (as soon as you deplete her HP, she'll just regenerate - she's immortal), it's rather dangerous, as she has a mean counter. 33% Battle, 33% not doing anything, and 33% Poltergeist.

Poltergeist is a multi-target attack that sets the super-duper-special HP Leak status on a target, which can only be seen in this battle. It's the same as Seizure, only it's much more dangerous because it isn't Seizure. This means you can't protect from it with Relics, you can't override it by setting Regen, and you can't cure it in any way. As soon as HP Leak is set, any current Regen status (even if it's from a Angel Ring or Miracle Shoes) will be removed. Trying to set the Regen status on a character with the Regen spell or Kirin's Life Guard attack will accomplish nothing. All in all, the constantly dropping HP gets annoying quickly, even dangerous if you don't watch your party's HP. Don't be afraid to spend some turns healing even when it isn't immediately necessary. Chadarnook (Goddess), by the way, will also attack normally after her first appearance; her arsenal consists of Battle, !Last Kiss (sets Doom), the dreaded Entice, and the surprisingly crippling Lullaby, which (as you know) sets Sleep on all characters.

So what to do? You should be covered in equipment that protects against the Phantasm's Lightning-elemental spells and possibly against that Flash Rain attack too. Patiently wait out the first turn against the Chadarnook (Goddess) picture, then quickly throw whatever you have when the demon appears. The monster is extremely weak to Fire-elemental and Holy-elemental spells, as it has both a weakness to the element and a Magic Defense that really isn't all that stellar.

Terra and Celes's Fira and (preferably) Firaga spells will really hurt Chadarnook (Phantasm) (Firaga takes priority over Holy, too), but keep in mind that, because Chadarnook (Phantasm) absorbs Lightning-elemental spells, Valigarmanda's Tri-Disaster will be absorbed. Shadow's Flame Scrolls should be boosted by Hero's Rings and Earring to ensure a lot of damage, although it should be noted that the much more expensive Flametongues will hurt considerably more. Setzer should throw his Fixed Dice around if possible; if not, Fira, Holy, and Firaga take priority over the Heiji's Jitte-induced GP Rain. Sabin should stick to Phantom Rush regardless of his spell selection, whereas Edgar is probably better off sticking to Drill unless you're really sure that when he lands from a Dragon Horn Jump, he'll be landing on the demon (in which case, with the Holy Lance, he'll be doing a massive amount of damage). The same really goes for Mog: his Dances are useless, as he will also attack the Chadarnook (Goddess) painting when he's in a trance. Stick to spells if you don't want to risk Jump attacks (or just plain don't have the right equipment). Cyan is horrible in this scenario (as often before), as his charge times mean you would have to waste a lot of time in a battle where speed is top priority. Gau and Umaro (while certainly hard to take down) suffer from the uncontrollable nature. Gau, if used, should stick to his Magic spells if possible, while Umaro should be... Yeah, killing him in the middle of battle seems a little harsh, so you might be better off setting Stop on him if you for some reason defied me and brought him here.

You can't do anything when Entice connects, and you can't do anything when Poltergeist connects. Fenrir/Golem will help against the physicals (especially !Last Kiss can be a pain), while the Hastega spell is an asset as always. If you have a few characters unprotected from Chadarnook (Phantasm)'s attacks, Zona Seeker's Wall attack can help. Basically, throw up your barriers when the demon is hidden and go all-out on the offensive when the demon is around while making sure your HP stays in the four digits at all times wherever possible. Expand Full Strategy

Crane (Right) is fire-based. It will attack physically and use the Fire and Fira spell. When hit by a Fire-elemental attack of any kind, it will charge, going through "THERMAL REACTION LEVEL: 1" to "THERMAL REACTION LEVEL: 2" and finally to "THERMAL REACTION LEVEL: 3 UNLEASHING THERMAL ENERGY" at which point it will, indeed, release all that thermal energy (target the entire party with a Firaga spell). When alone, the right crane will boost its defenses with Magitek Barrier, which grants both Protect and Reflect, protecting it from Magic spells. After one minute of fighting, the message "The crane shakes the deck!" will appear and the Crane (Right) will perform a Magnitude 8 attack. Finally, every third time it has been damaged, it will perform a Thundara spell on the other Crane (Left), charging it. It has a rare Debilitator steal that you might want; it's another Tool for Edgar.

The Crane (Left) is pretty much the same, only lightning-based. From "ELECTRIFICATION LEVEL: 1" it will pass through "ELECTRIFICATION LEVEL: 2" and "ELECTRIFICATION LEVEL: 3 Electrical energy unleashed!" performing a multi-target Gigavolt attack. All other features are the same, only it will cast a Fira spell on the other crane every third time it has been damaged.

If you brought Gau and he knows how to perform the Anguiform Rage, you're in luck, as the Aqua Breath attack is incredibly powerful in this battle, up to the point where an Earring-boosted Aqua Breath will probably kill one Crane in one hit. Do not let him enter a Rage that performs either Fire or Lightning based attacks, and don't let him enter a Rage with a special attack that is Reflectable. Locke can do little here but try to Steal the Debilitator from the Crane (Right). Focus on one Crane at the time where possible. Drill / Chainsaw and Aura Cannon are songs often sung right now, and Cyan can enjoy his Kazekiri. Setzer is easily the weakest link at this point, lacking in proper equipment. Just try to nail a diamond or Chocobo on your first spin; that will make for the most consistent damage output. Expand Full Strategy

Dadaluma is...yeah, what the hell is he anyway? He's a crazy lying dog like the entire population of Zozo, charging at you as soon as he's finished saying he's going to let you by unharmed. He's some hybrid between a martial artist and a thief: The love child of a Harvester and an Iron Fist plus a load of anabolic steroids. Most of his attacks are physical, and his most powerful ones are thrown weapons. Your Invisible characters are relatively safe if he doesn't expose them with Shockwave, which is a weakish attack with the power to hit your Invisible targets. When he's taking enough damage to dive below 1920 HP, he'll use either a Potion or Hi-Potion three times and cast Protect on himself. That's only slightly annoying for Locke, as all other characters are going to attack either with barrier-piercing attacks or those that are magical of nature.

There are some more twists and turns to Dadaluma's battle script! When you've hurt him with the Magic command two times, he will Throw one weapon and Jump in the air, being temporarily untouchable. He'll come down to damage a character for some minor physical hurting. He won't do all this if he has the Slow status, but since the only way to set it is by using Gau's Poplium Rage, there are much better things to set on Dadaluma.

If you've hit him with the Attack command four times, he will Throw two weapons. Such violence. Obviously, you're never going to use Attack that much, but if you brought Locke and Cyan and went Attack-happy for some reason, watch out. Finally, after 30 seconds, he will call some aid. God knows he needs it by then, if he's not dead already. He'll whistle for two Iron Fists that you'll never face alone and thus escape their one and only strength: Stone.

So yeah, you can imagine what to do. Try to nick that rare Thief's Bracer with Locke. Edgar can play with his new tools. Aura Cannon with Sabin. Cyan's Flurry will be better before Dadaluma has cast the Protect spell on himself, but Fang comes out victorious after he's successfully done so. Even when Protect isn't in effect, the wait time might make Fang more appealing to you. Celes' Imp spell can seriously cripple Dadaluma, as it actually works on him. His physicals will now always do twice as much damage, but his Shockwave/Throw days are over, so if you have any characters under Invisible, you're destined to win. Have her pose as a back-up Cure caster if necessary, and if you choose not to turn Dadaluma into an Imp, you'll want her ready with Runic to disable Protect for the Lockes and Cyans of this world. Gau's Alacran and Acrophies Rages will set Stop on Dadaluma, turning him completely useless. Trillium also offers Bio, which will hit for CRAZY damage. Shadow can simply toss his stuff; his Scrolls (especially when Earring-boosted) will come out stronger than his Shuriken, but you might not want to waste them on an easy fight like this. Expand Full Strategy

Dark Behemoth will start the fight by using Mighty Guard to buff itself up, then start pounding you with powerful physical attacks until you kill it. This is where the trouble is; at the end, Dark Behemoth sees it fit to bid you adieu with either a Meteor spell (deals around 2200 damage to all characters) or an Ultima spell (deals more than double that). Again, like with Malboro Menace, we are lucky enough to work around this nastiness with Banish. Should you lack the Banish spell, Celes' or Gogo's Runic blade (Swordbreaker works with Runic) or any Jumping character will have you surviving the situation. Expand Full Strategy

No restrictions. However, Vanish/Banish, Vanish/Atom Edge, Vanish/True Edge, Vanish/Oblivion and Vanish/Snare all cause the final bit of 'Deathgaze has died' to not be set (as that's his final 'counter', so to speak), meaning that you won't gain the cutscene at the end. This means no Bahamut Magicite either. What you do get if you use one of those attacks is that Deathgaze will have gained back all HP and will be still available for you to defeat, so you'll have gained nothing in the end. Other ID attacks won't result in this sad situation, however, so Vanish/Death and Vanish/Antlion and such (any others I didn't mention to avoid above) are all fine.

You've heard it all over the place... Deathgaze soaring over the skies of this new world, terrorizing all in its path. An ancient demon who knows no remorse; no satisfactory pack of unlikely heroes could possibly let this continue! Deathgaze is a relatively simple yet tough opponent, so prepare well.

Deathgaze will start every battle by using Lv. 5 Death; Safety Bits and Memento Rings protect against it if your level is right (or wrong, depending on your interpretation), but it's most likely that you don't have the former and can't use the latter, at least when you first encounter the thing. Deathgaze may cast an Blizzaga or Death spell in its the first turn, and may cast Death or use Aero the second. After every two turns (not counting the initial Lv. 5 Death), Deathgaze has a 66% chance of using Escape to flee the battle. When damaged, it may counter with Battle, as all bosses tend to do.

So Deathgaze has inherent Safe and Shell status boosts, a weakness to Fire- and Holy-elemental attacks to consider, the ability to absorb Ice- and Poison-elemental attacks and no status ailment vulnerabilities to exploit. How are we going to take this guy down as effectively as possible?

Breaking Rods have always been powerful, but against Deathgaze, they're a blessing; since spells executed by breaking Rods gain a barrier-piercing property, you'll be able to break Flame Rods for a barrier-piercing Fira spell and Holy Rods for a barrier-piercing Holy spell (the latter is much more powerful). Dragon Horn Jumps with a Holy Lance are pretty powerful (though the damage inflicted is impaired by the Safe status), but if your Edgar is still working with the Golden Spear, you should stick to Gigas Glove with Drill/Chain Saw. Phantom Rush is also barrier-piercing so that works rather nicely. Setzer's GP Rain surpasses all his other forms of damage output. For other characters: Terra, Celes, and Relm should cast Firaga, Holy, Fira (in order of preference), Umaro should not be equipped with a Blizzard Orb as Deathgaze absorbs Storm; Berserker Ring/Gigas Glove is the way to go.

Never mind Mog's Dances, they're far too weak here; Dragon Horn Holy Lance Jumps or his strongest spells are the best alternatives for this character. Gau's Io-induced Flare Star will deal 9999 damage with every Flare Star while nullifying the effects of Aero; Gau's Rage will cast Flare, which is decent enough, and with the inherent Undead property, he won't have to fear the Death spell. Strago should stick to Traveler (or if he has it), Shadow should throw Holy Rods or Flametongues (Holy Rods are stronger) or even plain Fuma Shurikens if you don't have any elemental weapons to abuse, and Gogo is probably best off Raging Io if possible or throwing out Phantom Rush attacks (via Mimic, of course). Locke equipped with a Valiant Knife delivers barrier-piercing damage to begin with and Cyan should stick to Gigas Glove-boosted Fang attacks (the only other barrier-piercing attack he has is and we can't wait that long). Note: I know that Flame Shields are even stronger than Holy Rods. This is only by a small margin though, and Holy Rods are far easier to acquire in bulk in addition to being less useful in other battles. Expand Full Strategy

Demon would have started out with inherent Image too, but since the game designers also gave her Image immunity, this status is never applied. Too bad for her. Demon is the least inventive Goddess of the bunch, as she shows us no new attacks. But we can forgive her, as she's so especially awesome. So, what will she try to do to us?

Her normal AI script has her use Battle, !Tyrfing, Metal Cutter (this one is kind of painful when it hits), and the Stop spell. You should immediately remove the Stop status with a Dispel spell if a character is affected, since, as soon a character suffers from the Stop status, Demon will use a Blaster attack to kill the person off. If the Stopped character isn't immune to instant death attacks, this will hit, so beware. A little note about !Tyrfing: The Japanese game calls this Special attack 'Tyrfing', after a cursed sword from gothic folklore.

Demon becomes increasingly mean once you damage her beyond 32640 HP, as she will start the heavy artillery with the powerful multi-target attacks: Aero, Southern Cross, Flare Star, and Meteor. At this point, you don't have to worry about any kind of physical attack or the Stop/Blaster combo anymore. Finally, every time Demon is damaged, she may cast a Firaga spell on the attacker. After she has been damaged eight/sixteen/etc. times, her next move will be Wave Cannon.

You have two proverbial trump cards against her. First off, you're draped in equipment that absorbs and/or nullifies her elemental attacks. Make Fire-elemental protection a priority, as you'll see that element the most, especially with the existence of that Firaga omni-counter. Second, Demon is vulnerable to the Stop status, so what are we even worrying about? Do note that since Demon is inherently Hasted, the status won't stick around as long as you would usually expect, so barriers and Fire-elemental protection certainly aren't excessive luxuries.

Set Stop on Demon right away and make multi-target Shell your next priority by means of Mighty Guard, Wall, or individual Shell-casting. Hastega is grand as usual to keep up with Demon, and while buffs such as Regen and physical protection aren't really necessary or all that useful, it wouldn't hurt either. Now, start pounding Demon with everything you have! Make no mistake; the Poison-elemental weakness is nothing you can really work with, as a neutral level 3 spell is stronger than Bio even when the latter is hitting a weakness. You might even want to set a better elemental weakness with the Debilitator to speed things up.

Your Dragoons will have a hard time penetrating Demon's Defense and Safe status, so you might want to keep them around for utility shift this time. Shadow can throw Poison Rods for great (barrier-piercing) damage. Gau is great Raging certain monsters, including Baalzephon (Blizzaga, absorbs every element but Fire which the Snow Scarf takes care of), Great Malboro (same story, casts Bio), Ouroboros (absorbs Fire-elemental attacks, casts Quake), or just an offensive Rage such as Stray Cat (care to give Gau a Poison Rod?), Purusa, Tyrannosaur, or whatever. Locke, Sabin, Cyan, Setzer, and Strago shouldn't have any trouble penetrating Demon's defenses. For the pure Magic skillset characters, the Quake spell is the second-best option after Ultima. If you don't have it or Float isn't an option, it's all about Flare.

In the end, Demon is the easiest of the three Goddesses to defeat, and that's all due to the Stop status vulnerability. If it hadn't been for that, I would've ranked her in the middle. Demon is all about the multi-target violence, and, if you have the defenses and elemental resistances to keep up with that, you're basically in the clear even if you choose not to apply the Stop status. Expand Full Strategy

Dullahan is a stud. Although he looks like he'd rather impale you with that lance of his any day, he's almost exclusively a spell caster with inherent Haste. Both his spells and Magic Power are relatively strong, so expect a challenge here. The boss' name comes from an ancient spirit from Irish mythology: a headless horseman who only travels to collect somebody's life. His carriage is made of bone, his horses have flaming eyes, and he will stop at nothing...

Dullahan always starts the battle off with Lv. ? Holy. This is a strong Holy-elemental attack, in terms of power similar to level 3 spells. Its drawback is that it will only hit targets whose level is divisible by the last digit of your GP. This is why I told you to make sure that it never hits; it will leave quite a mark if it does.

Under normal circumstances, he'll just focus on his three main spells: namely, Blizzara, Blizzaga, and Holy. When he detects any characters in your party with the Reflect status, he'll use Reflect ??? on your entire party. It will display "Holy cast if level is divisible by ?.", setting Dark, Mute, and Slow on every character with the Reflect status. If he dives beneath 10240 HP, he'll use Cura instantly. If he passes through four normal turns, he'll regain the ability to cast Reflect ??? and/or Cura if the situation calls for it. Finally, there is a 33% chance that it will counter your attack with Battle. Oh, my.

After damaging him eight times, he'll get four turns where he will use some of his nastier spells. Blizzara and Lv. ? Holy can make another appearance, but so can !Morning Star, Absolute Zero, and Northern Cross. You can't Runic your way out of these new spells, which makes them harder to stop. Northern Cross, while being vulnerable to Runic, is the most dangerous of the five.

Northern Cross sets the Freeze status ailment, which you might have already encountered in the fight against Naude, who could set it with Freezing Dust. Northern Cross is multi-target, but uses an 'interesting' way to determine whether it hits or not. After the game checks if Northern Cross is blocked (after looking for Clear, Magic Block, the usual), it randomly misses from 0 to 4 characters. This ensures that even when all characters are normally hit by the move, you'll almost never see a party entirely frozen. That is good, as it's basically mega-Stop and there is no way to protect against it at all. Remember that the fastest way to dispel the Freeze status is to hit the party with a Fire-elemental attack; the Fire spell is obviously the best one.

There are two strategies you can employ. I'll list them both, as both should be perfectly fail-safe if you know what you're doing. Here they are:

Strategy #1: Hit Points

This is the strategy where we use violence to end Dullahan. First off, let's set up our available defenses. Zona Seeker is nice should Absolute Zero make an appearance, as is Golem or Fenrir for !Morning Star and Battle counters. Have Celes use Runic, continuously. If she isn't wearing Hermes Sandals, make sure you cast the Haste spell on her. Now, let's get to the violence! Your main damage dealers here are Sabin and Edgar. Sabin should be in the Front Row with two Burning Fists. If Celes isn't busy with absorbing one of Dullahan's spells, sneak a Berserk spell on Sabin for increased damage. If Edgar is equipped with the Dragon Horn, have him Jump. If not, stick to Tools; you can see what I want to do with him. Setzer should just stand by and use Hi-Potions on hurting characters. Since Celes should pretty much absorb all of Dullahan's attacks, you should be safe in that regard. In the end, you should prevail.

Strategy #2: Magic Points

Dullahan dies if you rasp away his MP. Thus, the entire offensive arsenal required for this strategy is Rasp. The advantage of the strategy is that if you have two to four Rasp casters, you'll find that the battle is over far more quickly. Its downside is that it does require two to four Rasp casters, and that, since Rasp is vulnerable to Runic, you can't protect yourself against Dullahan's attacks and will, consequently, have to regularly heal.

On a normally leveled party, I find both strategies equally satisfying; it's your pick, really. Expand Full Strategy

The Earth Dragon is fairly unique; he's the only elemental dragon that doesn't absorb his own element (instead, he uses the Float status to circumvent almost all Earth-elemental damage). Why they chose to do this is beyond me, as even with Quake healing, Earth Dragon wouldn't have been that crazy of a challenge. We may well never know. Every 20 seconds, the Earth Dragon will use his 50 Gs attack, an Earth Dragon-only move that removes the Float status on all targets. Irremovable Float, like the one given by the Angel Wings and Float-inducing Rages, will not be removed. Given the fact that Earth's G is, as you might expect, 1 G, 50 G is plain crazy; you'd effectively become 50 times as heavy as you normally are. Shadow would suddenly become 7250 lbs, for instance. But enough with the first-grade science. He has a one-third chance of countering any damage done to him with the dreaded !Honed Tusk attack, which really is quite strong. Any other attack he uses will be either Battle or ground-based. Quake always misses Earth Dragon himself, and the Magnitude 8 and Landslide attacks should either miss or heal you if you've been smart up until now.

Start the battle off by throwing up your barriers. Golem and Fenrir are particularly useful, as the only real threat in this battle should be Earth Dragon's !Honed Tusk and Battle attacks. Strago's Mighty Guard should also help in that department. Hastega is great as always, and Kirin doesn't hurt either. Cast a combination of Sleep and Slow on the Earth Dragon as well: remember that Sleep can also be set with Strago's Bad Breath attack, which also can set Poison on the Earth Dragon. Now that you've been bulked up plenty, (and the Earth Dragon is vulnerable in his extended slumber) it's time to start the magical offensive.

If you want to keep Earth Dragon sleeping, keep Gau busy with Magic spells. Back Row Gau with 255 Defense and a Float-inducing Rage is invulnerable, but it may come at the cost of fallen party members. If that sounds a bit cheap to you, and since all characters are either draped in Gaia Gear or protected by Angel Wings, I should mention that Rages like Marchosias, Ninja, Hornet, and Luridan really help (especially Marchosias). Strago's Aero packs a proverbial wallop, and Shadow's Water Scrolls are pretty strong. If you don't care for the Sleep status, Thrown Sakuras are extremely painful to Earth Dragon. Sabin's Phantom Rush still gets the job done as always, and it is superior to Razor Gale even though it doesn't exploit a specific weakness. Mog's Water Harmony is a superior alternative to Jump attacks if you're trying to maintain a snoozing Earth Dragon. His Wind Rhapsody is also an option; Wind Slash is weaker than El Nino, but you might prefer Wind Rhapsody's 6/16 Sun Bath to Water Harmony's 6/16 Plasma attack. All other characters should just stick to Magic spells. Umaro should be kept far away from this battle, as usual. His presence makes the Sleep status strategy rather impossible. Expand Full Strategy