Final Fantasy VI All Enemies and Bosses

If you have any Imp equipment (Tortoise Shield, Titanium, Imp's Armor), throw it on! The Blue Drgn is all about Water-elemental attacks, and that's what Imp equipment absorbs. Don't equip Ice Shields, as Aqua Rake 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 Rake (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 wearers shine once again; Minerva nulls Aqua Rake and Flash Rain and halves damage done by all other Water-elemental attacks. Equipping Snow Mufflers on Gau, Mog, and Umaro will allow them to absorb the Flash Rain attacks. Relics protecting from Seizure (that'd be Ribbon, Cure Ring and Marvel Shoes) are great, too.

As soon as the battle starts, the Blue Drgn will attack with Clean Sweep. If Strago is in your party and hasn't learned Cleansweep from either the Enuo random encounters or the Master Pug 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 Drgn dives beneath 16384 HP, he'll also start attacking with Aqua Rake and Flash Rain. Every 40 seconds, Blue Drgn will have stored enough water for a Clean Sweep 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 Drgn may be countered by Battle, as usual.

The difficult part of the Blue Drgn's AI script is the Rippler spell. To put it simply (or as simply as possible), Blue Drgn 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 Drgn isn't already enhanced by the Haste status.
3. If Blue Drgn isn't enhanced with the Safe status.
4. If it has been two turns since (not counting the 40-second Cleansweep attack) Blue Drgn last used Rippler.

If all those conditions are met, Blue Drgn 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: Big 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. Tritoch's Tri-Dazer isn't absorbed, so that works; Bolt 3 is stronger, though. Bolt Edges 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 Bum Rush beats all, like usual. Setzer's GP Rain is still stronger than Slot, while the Fixed Dice (especially when paired with the Offering) 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 Aspik Rage allows him to absorb all Water-elemental attacks while making him attack with Giga Volt, a strong Lightning-elemental attack that will really hurt Blue Drgn. Actaneon and Exocite also allow Ragers to absorb Water-elemental attacks.

You know, this battle's ease doesn't mean that the Blue Drgn is weak; on the contrary, with regular multi-target magical spells packing some power behind them and no crippling status vulnerabilities, the Blue Drgn 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 Bum Rush and Dragon Horn Dragoons weren't enough, you get to use Fixed Dice/Offering, equip armor like the Minerva and Cat Hood, and have access to all the awesome no-questions-asked attacks such as GrandTrain and Bum Rush. Expand Full Strategy