Final Fantasy VI All Enemies and Bosses

TunnelArmr is more or less a scripted battle; it forces you to use Celes as a Runic user while Locke should Attack, Attack, Attack!

TunnelArmr is boring. He uses Attack, !Drill, Fire, Bolt, and Poison to hurt you. If he hits 384 HP, he'll swap the possibility of casting Poison for the ability to fire off Tek Lasers. If he's been damaged, he'll sometimes counter with Attack.

Have Celes under continual Runic during this fight. If your enemy casts a spell, have her use it as soon as possible. If the enemy uses a physical attack, just have Celes wait; there'll be a magical attack around the corner. Locke should try to steal something as long as TunnelArmr still has anything. If you steal a second Air Lancet, and Locke still has a Genji Glove with a Guardian equipped, you can use the second Air Lancet by equipping it mid-battle. Have Locke use a Potion if either character gets low on HP; the strongest attack he'll be able to successfully use is !Drill, which hits for slightly over 100 HP worth of damage on a Genji Glove wearing, Front Row Locke. Otherwise, he should simply attack. Expand Full Strategy

Ultros is a tough octopod whose Tentacle attack can be a huge pain if you're playing the game without over leveling. Everybody must be in the Back Row. If you are a moron and played with any of your characters in the Front Row, fix that. He'll start by delivering his intro speech and using an Attack. Then, if 10 seconds have passed (and they will have), he'll say "Oh, that one's a tasty morsel! I'd love to get my tentacles around her... *sluuuuuurp*!" and target Terra with a single-target Tentacle attack. If at his next turn another 10 seconds have passed, he'll say "Muscle heads? Hate 'em!" target Sabin with a single-target Tentacle attack and use a multi-target Tentacle attack on his next turn, followed by either Attack, !Ink or a single-target Tentacle in that very same turn; if not, he'll spread the happiness with a multi-target Tentacle/follow up with Attack/!Ink/ single-target Tentacle, wait a turn, and then hate on Sabin for his body. His next turn is devoted to an Attack and either an Attack, !Ink or single-target or multi-target Tentacle attack in the same turn.

Then, he'll say "Your ugly mug gives me the creeps!" and use a single-target Tentacle attack on Banon, from where he'll start at his first multi-target Tentacle-Attack/!Ink/single-target Tentacle turn again. Also, every time he is targeted by a Fire-elemental attack, which at this stage is either a Fire spell from Terra or Sabin's Fire Dance Blitz, he will say "Yeeeouch! Seafood soup is NOT on the menu!" and counter with an !Ink attack... yeah, he's a talkative guy.

Beating Ultros 4 down is relatively simple if you pay close attention to his AI script. Have at the very least Terra and Banon in the Back Row using their Defend skill to reduce the power of Tentacle when you know they'll be targeted by it. Have Banon use Pray at all times, as his Attack is nothing to consider seriously (even though he possesses a snazzy weapon that you won't get on other characters for a long, long time). For damage output, have Terra use her Fire spells, Edgar fire off arrows with the Autocrossbow, and Sabin use Aurabolt. If he knows Fire Dance at this point, it's stronger than Aurabolt, but if you're that highly leveled you probably don't need to worry much in the first place. Expand Full Strategy

Before you try to hurt Ultros, make sure your Ramuh-wearing character is equipped with an Earrings relic (or two). If you have a Fire Knuckle-wearing Sabin, he should be in the third or fourth position, as this will ensure that he faces Ultros' back at the start of the match. Make sure that your party is covered in Peace Rings/Ribbons, as Ultros has the ability to set Confuse, which is serious business.

Ultros is back and he's better and badder then ever. Only not really, because he actually has fewer HP than he did when you first met him. To compensate, he has quite a few spells to throw at you, and has a nasty Command Script that gives him the power to, at the worst situation possible, actually take 10197 HP of damage before going down. Here's how that works:

Ultros has four positions. He starts at Position 1. Every time he completes two turns he'll make a comment, switch to another position and start using different spells. Now the story and our eyes will have us believe that it's one Ultros, hopping about; the game, however, treats this battle as one with four Ultros's, each with his own set of 2550 HP. If you hurt Ultros but let him escape to a different position, you can Scan him and see he will again have 2550 out of 2550 HP. At least, that's what you would see if this Ultros weren't immune to Scan. So, the trick is to kill him as quickly as possible, before he can move around at all.

For the record, he will go like this: 1 - 3 - 2* - 4 - 2 - 1 - 4 - 2 - 3 (If he reaches the 3 at the end of the chain, he'll attack four times before sliding back to 2*).

So what does Ultros do? He counters Blitz techniques and Bushido skills with Acid Rain, a nasty Water/Poison-elemental attack that sets Sap. I'd advise against using those skills, especially because Sabin will inflict more damage with the Fire Knuckle then he will with his Blitz attacks (unless it's Fire Dance, and only if he's hitting with the Fire Knuckle in the back of Ultros). After every minute of battling, Ultros will use Imp Song, which changes the living characters on one side of him into Imps. This is very annoying and yet another reason to deal with Ultros as quickly as possible.

Finally, his attack pattern is this, depending on his position:

1. Attack, !Ink or Tentacle
2. Attack (33%) or Fire (66%)
3. Attack (33%) or Lv. 3 Confuse (66%)
4. Attack or Mega Volt or Drain

Locke is fairly useless; Ultros has nothing to steal whatsoever. If Locke knows Slow or Bolt 2, have him cast it. Otherwise, just attack. Edgar's Chainsaw inflicts very decent damage, and I've said hopefully enough about Sabin's Fire Knuckle already to generate the impression that I actually want you to use it. Cyan should ignore his Bushido command and act like Locke. Gau, finally, can either pick a Rage like Aspik or Hazer for direct violence (Aspik is godly), or Primordite/Araneid for causing Stop if you want to prevent him from changing position rather than going for a speed kill.

Unless it's equipped on Sabin, summoning Ramuh takes priority over anything else; you may consider giving it to one of the others in the case that Ramuh is paired with Sabin leading up to this battle. It's basically a Bolt 2 spell coming from someone who probably hasn't learned Bolt 2 yet, which makes Ramuh incredibly effective against your marine adversary. Expand Full Strategy

Ultros isn't very hard this time around. He starts the battle off with the message "Thought you wouldn't see me again? I've got more lives than I do arms!" He'll normally use Attack, !Ink, Stone, and Tentacle. After every minute of battle, he'll use Lode Stone, a percentage-based attack that removes 75% of your current HP.

Every other turn, he'll start by taking a little slither in your direction. Once he has slithered eight times, he uses a particularly nasty spell: Either Aqua Rake or Magnitude8. You can easily take both (especially the latter if you're equipped with Gaia Gear, as you should be), but you can make him back off one slither if you hit him three times with a Magic spell (not a Lore, however). Not that that's really advisable, but I'll explain that in a minute.

When Ultros reaches the low grounds of mere 15360 HP, he'll cast Haste and Safe on himself. "Hope I'm not making a nuisance of myself! So sorry!" Indeed. Once you've cast five spells on him, he'll go red and the screen will say: "Ultros's form has changed! Beware his tri-elemental attack!" This means that any Fire-elemental spells will be countered by Fire 3, Ice-elemental spells by Ice 3, and Lightning-elemental spells by Bolt 3.

As soon as you bring Ultros down to 10240 HP, a cutscene will trigger to bring in Relm. She'll chat with Ultros, and some moments later - after the obviously hi-la-rious cutscene has passed - will join you on your side against Ultros. If you use her Sketch ability on him, Ultros will say: "How can this be? I...I'm nothing more than a stupid octopus!" and leave.

The strategy is pretty straightforward. I wouldn't bother with offensive spells whatsoever if I were you (other than two Slow spells, one to start off with and one to counter his Haste/ Safe combo with). If you have Golem's Stop spell, use it to great effect and cast it every time you see Ultros taking another turn. Strago's Rods, should they have the Fire or Lightning element, will do decent damage overall (especially when that random spell steps in). Ultros Floats, so Locke can horribly abuse that with his Hawk Eye(s) (you can cast Bserk on Locke if you feel like you can sacrifice controlling him). Terra can wield Flame Sabres and/or Thunder Blades to hurt Ultros a bundle. If Strago's level is 25, he can rock out with his rock out; Stone will do major damage. Try to Steal a White Cape, as it's basically free and generally useful. End the battle with Sketch if you want to. Expand Full Strategy

Ultros is an absolute joke this time, with a very simple script and weak stats. He has three attacks: Attack, !OctopusInk, and Tentacle, so we're back to basics. If he reaches 12800 HP - that's about 5000 damage, something a Bio spell coming from a normally leveled Earrings-boosted Terra can do in ONE hit - he will complain and call his buddy, Chupon. "Ultros: I lose AGAIN! Well, today I've brought a pal! Mr. Chupon! Come on down!" From here, he'll keep attacking like he used to, only he'll talk about the monstrosity now.

Chupon is nothing to worry about either. His attacks are unassuming, his stats fairly weak: Attack and Fire Ball are past their prime. When he dies, he'll use a final Sneeze attack on everybody. Gezondheid!

Strategy? Psh. Summoning Phantom at the very start takes care of Attack and !OctopusInk, and you can Berserk or Silence Mr. Chupon as soon as he comes down. You're invulnerable. Not that a normal Cure or Cure 2 spell couldn't prevent any kind of danger, but... on the offensive side, Fire 2 and Bio work very well on Ultros (yes, he suddenly traded his Lightning-weakness for a Poison one), and Chupon can suck down some Ice 2 spells. It's just acceleration material though, as this is a very easy battle. Expand Full Strategy

So, you've had three major battles against relatively easily defeated monsters with a weakness to Fire. Umaro is no different: a relatively easily defeated monster with a weakness to Fire.

Umaro employs all kinds of freaky attacks to try to damage you. Normally, he'll use Battle, !Tackle, and Blizzard. He uses physical attacks only when one of your characters is remains, but I see no reason for that to occur. Every 40 seconds (when 2 or more characters are alive), Umaro will either use Snowball (an unblockable ID attack that halves the target's current HP and sets Seizure), Surge, or Lode Stone (ID attack that takes off 75% of the targets current HP). Umaro may counter Fire-elemental attacks with either !Tackle or Blizzard, and every other kind of damage with !Tackle. Every third time Umaro is hit by a Magic spell, he'll use a Jump attack.

The interesting part of this fight is the Green Cherry Item. When you use it on him or he uses it himself (automatically when he reaches 10240 HP), he will glow red. This means that Umaro sets Safe, Shell, Haste, and Regen on himself. Sadly for Umaro, he has Seizure immunity, so you never get to see Regen in action. The appearance of the Green Cherry means Dispel time for you! Dispel will remove all of his power-ups (so will Strago's Rippler Lore, by the way).

Umaro is a very easy opponent. Since he has Berserk vulnerability, you can set it with the Bserk spell, summon Phantom, and effectively win the match right there. If this is not one of the options in your playbook, combining Sleep with Slow should really cripple him too. If status ailments are too cheap for you, Umaro is simply weak enough to defeat with damaging (so long as you heal when appropriate). Fire 2 spells work just fine, as does Sabin's Bum Rush, Dragon Horn Jump attacks, you name it. Expand Full Strategy

Two Ipooh bears initially protect Vargas; you can't harm him until you have killed them. Ipooh attack physically only, with Attack and !Claw. Vargas will casually switch between Attack and Gale Cut in an Attack-Gale Cut-Attack rhythm. Dance to it. After every 50 seconds, he will taunt you cruelly by saying: "Come on! What's the matter?" and use Attack twice, as if to insult you. What a jerk.

Once he hits 10880 HP - that's after 720 damage - he will start getting bored with you and exclaim: "Enough of this! I'll send you all to the great beyond!" Just then, a new character will appear. It's Sabin Rene Figaro, long lost heir to the throne of Figaro and twin brother to Edgar.

It seems that Vargas misunderstood the outcome of a successor issue concerning Duncan, their master in the martial arts and Vargas' father. Vargas turned to patricide, and here Sabin is complimenting Vargas on his fine spirit. Morals these days, let me tell ya... Anyway, Vargas executes "Mortal Attack: Blizzard Fist!" Blasting all inferior warriors of the field, the battle is up to Sabin alone.

When Sabin has appeared and Vargas hits 10368 HP - that's 512 more damage - Sabin will lament over his master's teachings. You'll have to use a Blitz to win this battle. Once the primary Blitz technique has been used, Vargas will... die or run, it's kind of vague. At any rate, Vargas is never to be heard from again.

Your strategy? When you engage Vargas, try to pick some Ipooh pockets (metaphorically) with Locke, have Edgar use Autocrossbow, and Terra use single-target Fire spells on the Ipooh you looted. After you've taken care of the Ipoohs, switch to the Bio Blaster with Edgar and have Terra on stand-by for a multi-target Cure spell for every Gale Cut that is sent your way. After a successful Steal attempt with Locke, have him attack. The Bio Blaster will facilitate the bulk of your damage anyway, so spending a turn moving to the Front Row and then taking more damage there probably isn't justified.

Eventually, Sabin will crash the party. Pay attention, as you are about to do the most complicated thing invented in video game history. That's right, you're about to execute a Blitz technique. Follow on-screen commands closely. Write them down. Remember. After you've completed a Pummel technique, you've won your battle. Expand Full Strategy