Final Fantasy 6 Advanced Character FAQ
Meeplelard
Date: 6/4/09 Version: 0.4
Table of Contents:
FAQ History
Legal Stuff
1. Overview of the game itself
2. Introduction to the FAQ
3. Summary of the FAQ
4. Abbreviation Index
5. The characters!
-Terra
-Locke
-Cyan
-Shadow
-Edgar
-Sabin
-Celes
-Strago
-Relm
-Setzer
-Mog
-Gau
-Gogo
-Umaro
6. Character Growth Suggestions
7. Temporary Characters
8. Character Team Suggestions
9. Equipment Locations
10. Character Rankings
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Credits
FAQ History:
Version 0.1
-Creation of FAQ. I refuse to go into detail here
Version 0.2
-Fixed a universal mistake of spelling "Apocalypse" as "Apocolypse" as
well as a less universal spelling mistake of "Snow Scarf" as
"Snowscarf."
-Changed a few more outdated instances in terms of names
-Removed that extraneous mention of 9999x8 regarding Locke in
Miscellaneous info section (in that there were two of them, now there's
only one)
-Added in a new way to get some equipment here and there
-Added to the FAQ section
-Added a few more comments on characters
-Started the Team section
-Added in the Abbreviation Index
Version 0.3
-Added in a few more set ups here and there
-Some grammatical errors fixed (mainly spelling), which this FAQ
really, really needs.
Version 0.4
-Fixed up some grammatical issues
-Added some more info here and there
-Editted some set ups
-Added another question to FAQs
Version 0.5
-Changed all instances of �Battle Power� to �Attack� as its listed in
game
-Added in �Temporary Charactrs� section.
Legal Stuff:
This FAQ is a copyright of Meeplelard, and should be found only at
GameFAQs.com. Should someone want to use Info from my FAQ for some
other source, or post it somewhere else, please contact me at
[email protected], or ask me directly on instant messenger, either
AIM (DbzFFlord) or MSN messenger ([email protected])
------------------------------
1. Overview of the Game Itself
------------------------------
Ok, I think at this point you know what Final Fantasy 6 is. Its the
6th installment in an ever growing series that has started back on the
NES, a game about a war 1000 years prior set civilization back a bit,
and now an evil empire is trying to use magic to take over the world,
and there's a mysterious girl in giant armor that attacks a city for
the sake of a frozen esper...come on, I know you've played this. If
you haven't, why are you reading this FAQ? What? Personal amusement or
tips before you start the game? Well, in that case, this is a FAQ about
game play, NOT about plot; if you want plot details, play the game or
something, or find some plot summary somewhere else. Yeah, I know, I
sound like a jerk, but who's the bigger jerk? The jerk who doesn't tell
plot details in a game play FAQ, or the jerk who goes into a character
FAQ hoping to find plot details cause they're too lazy to play the
game? ...no, don't answer that.
So what is FF6 Advanced? Well, after a point, Square-enix decided they
could milk a lot of money by re-releasing some older games, especially
if they threw in some random extra features here and there. This
started with Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls, which was Final Fantasy 1 and
Final Fantasy 2, using their FFOrigins graphics, rebalanced and some
aspects changed here and there, with new dungeons in FF1's case and a
new after game in FF2's case. This led to the creation of the
"Advanced" series, which was the 3 SNES Final Fantasy's (aka Final
Fantasy 4-6) being released, with some additions that fit the game, and
an after game. In Final Fantasy 6 Advanced's case, the game had a few
noteworthy bugs removed (Evade, Blind, and Vanish/Instant Death spell
are the big ones), and three new Espers added on. It also had a new
translation, for better or worse.
If its not obvious, this FAQ is based on the Final Fantasy 6 Advanced,
but by this point, it should be obvious. Oh, also note that, to avoid
confusion, the game that this is a "remake" of was originally released
in the US as "Final Fantasy 3" back on the SNES. When it was ported
and re-released on the PSX (complete with random extra features like an
intro and ending FMV!), it was given its proper name in "Final Fantasy
6." While most people know this by now, there are some who still don't
and get confused over this fact. Sad, but true, felt it was worth
noting.
--------------------------
2. Introduction to the FAQ
--------------------------
If this FAQ seems kind of familiar based on the name and table of
contents, the person writing it...well, maybe perhaps cause it is. I
wrote a FAQ for the original version of this game (or at least, FF3US,
since its SLIGHTLY different than FF6j) and figured I'd write one for
this version too. So...why not just C+P the old FAQ and shove it here?
The reason being that FF6 Advanced has more changes than you might
think offhand? I'll get to that later.
For those that this FAQ does NOT seem familiar, the FAQ exists to take
an in-depth look at each character, note their strengths, weaknesses,
miscellaneous strategies, good set ups for them, random objective facts
like their base stats, what have you. I'm trying to take as an
objective as possible stance on these characters though bare in mind
that I am a puny mortal, so there's a good chance I'll accidentally
fall into the realm of subjectivity, so don't get all crazy if I do.
I'll be forced to unleash the trained death gorillas...which aren't yet
trained...nor do they actually exist yet...on you if you do.
Regardless, why write this FAQ, ignoring that I already wrote one? The
reason being a lot of people take a look at a character, see a scrubby
skill set, and dismiss them as useless. Sadly, this smacks some
characters like Celes who have other redeeming features. Other
characters have a nice skill here and there, and absolutely nothing
else, yet because the player is too lazy to even try anything else, the
character looks relatively great. Other characters get the hype they
deserve, but for all the wrong reasons, like take Edgar who gets hyped
sometimes for his late game Tools worth, when Tools are rather
unimpressive by that point, however, they totally ignore what really
makes him good in his potentially strong set ups due to equipment.
Now, why write this FAQ since I already wrote one? FF6a added in a few
changes since the previous versions of the game. Most notable is the
fact that Evade now works and M. Block is no longer the god stat it use
to be. This alters some set ups as now some weapons like the
Swordbreaker have an actual use. A few other differences include how,
compared to the SNES version anyway, the game uses Japanese MP Growths
so your MP is higher throughout the entire game (most notable early on
when that 30 extra MP you have matters when your magic costs 4-5 MP
each.) It also added in Dragon's Den and Soul Shrine, as well as new
equipment that alter characters. Lastly, name changes...this is
another huge reason. The old FAQ used terms like "Stunner," "Tempest,"
"Offering" and "Pummel" while in FF6a, those don't exist and the
equivalents are "Kagenui," "Kazekiri," "Master's Scroll" and "Raging
Fist" respectively. If its not obvious, I'll be using FF6a terms best
to my ability, though I might accidentally slip in an old translation
term, since I'm use to it; if I do, feel free to e-mail me so I correct
it, for consistency purposes.
---------------------
3. Summary of the FAQ
---------------------
Alright, now that you know what this FAQ is about, how am I going about
doing it? Ok, sure, everyone at level 99 with godly equipment can rip
apart crap easily enough, since levels are factored into algorithms and
you have over 9k HP, etc, but that isn't much of a FAQ now is it? No,
I'm assuming reasonable levels. This is to say, levels you'd get if
you didn't level grind much (something beyond, say, level 50 feels over
leveled, at least prior Dragon's Den.) Naturally, I'll be assuming
reasonable levels throughout the game, relative to that point of the
game. So while level 50 at, say, Kefka's Tower isn't too bad, level 50
at the Floating Continent is clearly over leveled, let alone level 50
at the Narshe Battle sequence cause you abuse the Lete River Tricks.
Naturally, I won't assume you're doing a challenge either. This isn't
to say I might bring up as a side note about a characters worth during
an LLG or something, but primarily, I'll be focusing on normal play.
This is to say, all equipment allowed, no trying to avoid levels
(though again, no trying to GAIN them for no other purpose beyond power
leveling), Espers allowed, what have you. If you restrict yourself,
that's your own fault, I don't know how you play, I'm going to assume
universal normal playing styles.
In other words, don't expect to see much hype regarding the Genji Glove
+ Master's Scroll + Ultima Weapon + Valiant Knife (or in the after
game, Ultima Weaponx2) being 9999x8, cause really, that set up won't
happen at levels that are reasonable.
I'll also evaluate characters over the course of the game. I mean,
sure, Sabin having great damage with Phantom Rush is nice in the second
half of the game for damage, but what about before he gets that?
There's a whole half of the game earlier, so how he is without that
kind of matters, be it good or bad on a relative scale.
Also, if this is the first time you've read one of my FAQs, I try to be
humor toned and not totally serious at times, cause who wants to read a
total wall of text and have nothing but seriousness? What? You do?
Well, tough! If you want a serious FAQ, go read something else, as this
one is going to be an attempt to entertain while providing good info! I
mean, geez, why must all of you be critics? ...ok, I apologize for that
outburst, but my point stands!
Anyway, intro Mumbo Jumbo is done, now for cheese, cake, pie, and THE
CHARACTERS THEMSELVES!
---------------------
4. Abbreviation Index
---------------------
I will be using a lot of abbreviations, acronyms, short hand, whatever
you want to call them, in this FAQ. Why? Cause it's a lot easier to
write "FC" than "Floating Continent" every time, and it saves space.
However, while this lingo is pretty common talk on the message boards,
I can't assume everyone who reads these FAQs is common message board
folk. So without further ado, here are the abbreviations! Note that
some might not have been used, but I can't keep track of everything I
use, so I'm listing them anyway!
HP: Hit Points. Damn near every RPG, and many nonRPG games for that
matter, have these; they're what lets you live.
MP: Magic Points. What you need to cast magic, every time you cast a
spell, a certain value, dependant on the spell, is subtracted from
this. A lot of RPGs use this fundamental too (though, recently, RPGs
have been moving away from using tradition MP...)
MHP: Maximum HP. Refers to the HP score where you are considered "Fully
Healed."
CHP: Current HP. The exact HP score you have, which is what matters for
living.
MMP: Maximum MP. Pretty much self-explanatory
CMP: Current MP. Also self-explanatory.
ST: Single Target. Hits only one enemy/ally.
MT: Multitarget. Hits more than one enemy/ally.
WoB: World of Balance. Refers to the section of the game starting from
the very beginning until the end of the Floating Continent (IOWs, the
first half of the game)
WoR: World of Ruin. Refers to the part of the game that is after the
Floating Continent (IOWs, the second half of the game.)
FC: Floating Continent. A specific dungeon that often gets abbreviated,
mostly because it's a big dungeon that's used as a landmark for the
halfway point.
ATB: Active Time Battle. The style of combat FF6 takes, where battles
are sort of real time, instead of strictly turn based. Anytime this is
mentioned, it's referring to an aspect of the battle system (like "ATB
Gauge" refers to the little bar that fills up to indicate a character's
turn.)
AKA: Also Known As. I assume most people know this, but in case you
don't, this basically means the thing in question has an alternate name
or way to refer to it.
IOW: In Other Words. See above, except this exists more as a clarity
statement, rather than referencing the item in a possibly more
recognizable manner...if that makes sense.
IIRC: If I Recall Correctly. Basically, this indicates I am speaking
out of memory, and haven't quite double checked it, as in, I am only
human, I can make mistakes when I rely on my own memory, this is here
to indicate a chance of error.
FF6: Final Fantasy 6. If I have to explain what this is, I will cry...
------------------
5. The Characters!
------------------
Alright, yeah, see? Told you I'd come to the character themselves!
Well, first and foremost, the set up of the FAQ. Kind of important you
know what things are going to look like, so C+Ping from the OTHER FAQ I
made like this, and modifying when modifying is necessary, here's how
the layout will be done!
====
|Name|
====
#Class Name#
Extra HP: The HP gains + This = Raw HP. Given how FF6's HP system
works, this is the ONLY difference in HP, so don't expect characters to
have varying HP scores. It is worth noting, in fairness, that Gau now
gets a unique helmet (the Dueling Mask) that adds 25% HP, and Umaro
gets a unique relic (Bone Wrist) that adds 50% HP, so if they have
unexplained HP boost coming from somewhere, that'd be why.
Extra MP: The MP version of the above
Strength: Stat that determines physical damage. Generally, 1 point of
Strength = 2 points of Attack, as a quick comparison
Speed: This + 20 = Characters Linear speed, or rather, how fast the ATB
gauge raises. Just need to note this so you know just how fast
characters are. Also, near as I can tell, it plays a role in how much
the ATB gauge starts filled at the beginning of the battle.
Stamina: Stat that determines HP healed from Regen and Tintinnabulum,
damage done from Poison and Seizure, and the hit rate of certain
attacks?yeah, this stat sucks, just listing it for completion purposes
(same with Extra HP)
Magic Power: Determines damage dealt by magic attacks. All things
considered, this is a raw multiplier
Attack: Character's base Attack. This + Weapon's Attack = True Attack.
Note that the status screen will claim its 10 higher than this w/ no
weapons. This is cause you're ACTUALLY equipped with a weapon that has
10 Attack (Fists, or "Empty" as the game calls it), odd as it sounds.
Defense: Characters base defense. This + Helmet + Shield + Armor +
Relics (if anyway) = True Defense. Higher this value, lower damage you
take from physicals.
Evasion: How good you are at dodging physicals. Note that this stat is
a bit misleading, since it uses 128 as a base, not 100, despite the %
symbol, so yeah, for true evade, divide the value you have by 128.
Magic Defense: See Defense, more or less, changing what should be
obvious.
Magic Evasion: The Magic version of evade
Desperation: Also known as "Near Fatal Attacks"; characters use this
move when they are at low HP (when they crouch, IOWs) and use the Fight
Command, with a 1/16 chance of kicking in. All character's
Desperations are Magical Attacks that ignore Evade and Defense. The
exception to this are Relm and Strago's which are simply instant death
that doesn't fail barring Immunity.
Special ability: What their unique ability is.
Effects: Quick explanation of the special ability.
Character Analysis:
Lengthy look at the character, descriptive and such. The boring yada
yadas. The meat of the FAQ or something. Also, I will be noting how
the character changed compared to their original self, if there's a
significant difference.
Strategies for Character X throughout the game:
Point by point tips for how to make the character effective at
different parts of the game.
Character X's Ultimate and Noteworthy equips:
Weapons:
Ultimate and/or Noteworthy weapons listed here (no particular order)
If you are curious where to get these, they will be listed later in the
FAQ.
Helmets:
See above, replace Weapon with Helmet
Armor:
Figure this part out for yourself <_<
Note: I am skipping Shields, since for all characters, ultimate shields
are universal (sans Umaro, whose speshul) This just saves time, and
makes things look overall cleaner. The exception to this is the
Crystal Shield, which is a decent supplement shield usable only by
Terra, Celes, Edgar, Setzer and Cyan. For those wondering, the
universal Noteworthy shields are Paladin's Shield, Genji Shield, Aegis
Shield, Thunder Shield, Force Shield and Tortoise Shield (even if you
aren't an Imp, this has some uses due to that 30% Evasion and Magic
Evasion)
Note 2: Some items I'm just listing for completion purposes, even I
myself don't believe they are actually worth using. This is just to
avoid later complaints like "What about the X weapon!" or "You Forgot
Armor Omega!" and such. Its mostly just showing they have that option
available.
End game Character X Set Ups:
Several set ups, and descriptions about them for making a character
useful later in the game. Things to aim for, per se, in the WoR. I
will be factoring in Dragon's Den here, mind, so if you don't have
something cause its really late, look at the list of noteworthy equips
to find a supplement, or look for a different set up that keeps that in
mind.
Set Ups are done in this order:
Right Hand (usually weapon)
Left Hand (usually Shield)
Headgear
Armor
Relic 1
Relic 2
Description of Set Up here. Do note that I am purposely trying to
avoid some exclusive equips in these set ups, so don't expect to see
"Paladin's Shield" unless the set up desperately calls for it (like
128% Evasion 128% Magic Evasion set ups, for example.) Often though, I
will be noting alternatives for equips to save space (like saying Red
Cap/Genji Helm) for this reason, as well as it partially coming down to
what the user wants.
In fact, to help explain this, I'll show you one universal set up that
works for just about any character! This also lets me get this out of
the way now, and explains why I listed certain equips on every
character when no one ends up using them <.<
Death God Dragoon Imp:
Impartisan
Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
Dragoon Boots
Dragon Horn
For this set up to work, if the equipment and name don't give it away,
you MUST, and I must emphasize this again, ****MUST**** have the
character in question under Imp status. Done that part? Good. This
set up yields a totally one dimensional character who is also a
complete tank to physical AND magic damage, who immunes Water to boot.
Since Impartisan still counts as a spear, it gets the full benefit of
Jump, and is being used with its 255 Attack as well. If you have
a character you want to use, but feel like they're lagging on damage or
defenses, you might consider this Imp set up, though it does change
their sprite, so it might not feel like that character. Granted, this
set up has a few noteworthy flaws. For starters, uses both Relic
slots, so only thing guarding you against Status effects is that Magic
Evasion (which Tortoise Shield does grant a decent amount, in
fairness), which also applies to enemies casting Imp on you, thus
REMOVING the status, yielding you with a near defenseless (to
physicals) character wielding a weak weapon. Also, being an Imp, it
can't cast any magic but the Imp spell, so it can't fall back to
utility purposes. Finally, if you are hit with a status, you can't
heal using a Remedy item (Esuna still works, mind, since that doesn't
heal the Imp status.) Despite these flaws, this set up isn't half bad,
just indicating it's not PERFECT.
...see how I did that? Yeah, equipment descriptions will look something
like that (though they won�t all be THAT long). Again, while that was a
demonstrative one, it *WAS* a serious set up, just a universal one, so
instead of indicating it for every damn character, figured I'd toss it
here. So it's serving a dual purpose (demonstrating how sets are going
to look, and showing a universal set up.)
Miscellaneous Info about Character:
Bringing up a few points about the character, be it positive, negative,
non-factors or whatever, which just didn't seem to fit anywhere else,
for people to take as they will.
Skill set:
Lists the characters skill set, if they have one. For Terra and Celes,
this will be their natural magic. If character has an actual skill set
(meaning not just Steal, for example), and its NOT Magic, I'll give
thoughts about the abilities as well.
Final Thoughts: quick recap of the character, and my personal thoughts
on them.
The order of characters I'm going in...well, since apparently going in
order of appearance threw some people off regarding my previous FAQ,
I'll be going in order of numerical character value. This is the same
order characters appear in shops and on the airship, purely cause
that's the number they were programmed as.
=======
| TERRA |
=======
#Magitek Elite#
Extra HP: 40
Extra MP: 16
Strength: 31
Speed: 33
Stamina: 28
Magic Power: 39
Attack: 12
Defense: 42
Evasion: 5%
Magic Defense: 33
Magic Evasion: 7%
Level Readjustment: +0
Desperation: Riot Blade
Special Ability: Trance/Revert
Effect: When used, all damage dealt is doubled, and all magic damage
received is halved. This does not effect damage if it ignores defense
(see Ultima) or if the damage follows some special algorithm (like
Gravity.) While in Trance status, healing from Regen status and damage
from Poison/Seizure status are doubled as well. Using this does *NOT*
reset the ATB gauge, as she gets a turn instantly; same applies to
Revert. After using Trance, her ATB gauge will turn into a Green Bar
that slowly decreases, which when emptied, she will automatically (as
though a free action) revert back to normal. Trance's length is based
on how many Magic Ability Points earned after fight (the kind that
teach Magic, IOWs), and you need at least 8 for the command to even
work. Note that Terra does NOT start the game with Trance, only gains
this after a certain plot event when she rejoins. Also worth noting
that when she rejoins in the World of Ruin, Trance's length doubles.
If Terra is under some status that stops the ATB Gauge (Sleep, Stop and
Freeze, for example), and the gauge runs out while she's in this
status, she will remain in Trance status until either Revert is used,
or the end of battle, due to a bug. Note that Trance's damage boost is
a multiplier in the same vain as Critical Hits, Jump and Berserk, so if
one of those is in effect, the damage boost won't be strictly double
(it actually adds 1 more Mult to damage, in practice, so if you have
Berserk, you'd be doing 2.5x damage (1 base, 1 from Morph, 0.5 from
Berserk), not 3x damage, if that makes sense)
NOTE: Terra has another special feature related to her. If she�s in
Magitek Armor, she will gain 4 new moves IN ADDITION to the usual 4
Magitek Attacks (Fire Beam, Ice Beam, Thunder Beam and Heal Force), those
being Magitek Missile, Confuser, Bio Blaster, and Banisher. These 4
moves are unique to her and no one else has access to them.
Character Analysis:
Terra is one of the most respected, often debated as the best,
character in the game. Between her good magic stat, great equipment,
and Trance turning her into a nasty boss fighter, she has a strong case
for this argument. While it may sound unintuitive that a character
whose special is totally situational and needs to be used
conservatively is top tier, this actually is a good example of how FF6
characters are not based entirely on their skill set. In fact, even if
situational, Trance is one of the few skill sets not rendered obsolete
by Magic or Fight.
Terra�s early game appearance isn�t particularly amazing, admittedly.
Her primary function here is acting as your healer, which would be her
niche. Her being a little underleveled hurts her durability and damage
some, though, considering all the Fire Weak enemies, her offense tends to
be fine, so long as you don�t mind spending some MP. The underleveled
aspect tends to work itself away by the Lethe River, which go figure, is
the point of the game where her healing is near useless due to Banon,
though her offense remains good since every enemy there is weak to Fire
(downside? Sabin exists and makes her look relatively worse now.)
Basically, Terra�s somewhat middling in the early parts of the game; not
bad, but hardly stellar either.
Terra's relative greatness starts showing when she rejoins. Despite
that this is the point of the game you get Trance, that's the not
reason (mostly cause its still a while until you fight your first
boss.) The reason is because Terra's equipment starts to show at this
point, with all that magic boosting stuff, and stronger magic is now
available to teach her, which off her game best (for that time) magic
turns her into a quick Death Goddess. There's also Osmose existing,
which kills MP arguments, being a spell that makes MP a self-renewable
resource. It�s nice too, since Terra is forced into the next few
sections of the game (Sealed Cave, and the whole Thamasa arc), so
you'll want your characters at your strongest. When faced against a
boss? Outcomes Trance, and watch the boss go splat in only a few turns.
To be blunt, if set up properly, using Trance, Terra can actually one
hit kill Flame Eater, and hit the damage limit on bosses like Ultros.
It�s worth noting that Terra does learn some magic naturally. However,
most beyond the early game, there's a good chance she'll learn these
spells through Espers faster anyway, since a lot of them are gotten at
levels higher than you'd like, or Espers teach them earlier than you'd
expect, what have you. For what spells she can learn, refer to a bit
further down in Terra's "Skill set" section.
When the World of Ruin kicks in, and Terra rejoins, she only gets
better. As a minor boost, mentioned earlier in the skill part, Trance
now has double the duration. The main things Terra gets now, however,
are the godly equipment options. While things like the Enhancer isn't
as good as it use to be (due to Evasion working properly), they're
still damn fine equipment, since the +7 Magic Power is certainly not
something to scoff at. And then there's the Minerva Bustier, which is
about as good an armor as you'll get in this game beyond arguably the
Snow Scarf. Sporting defenses just a bit below the Genji Armor, it
grants a good boost to stats (most importantly +4 Magic Power), 10%
Magic Evasion, resists all 8 elements, including nullification of the
big 3 (Fire, Ice and Lightning, for later reference when I say "Big
3"), as well as Wind. This armor alone secures Terra's spot in
equipment greatness, as only one other character (Celes) gets this.
Its worth noting that Terra has a good amount of availability, only
really missing the early WoR, so that she has plenty of Esper Time to
secure that her stats never quite fall behind. I suppose this isn�t so
much an advantage as it is more just her evading a flaw, as she doesn�t
particularly stand out in Esper time. She does miss the Factory, but
given the Esper Boosts there are meager at best, and the way her levels
tend to end up and how the better Espers are available around the same
time she joins, she�ll break even in practice. Its also worth noting
that cause most of the noteworthy Espers don�t appear until close to when
she rejoins that she is never really falling behind on Magic; the same
applies later in the WoR where she can be recruited before just about any
new Esper barring Fenrir, whose only noteworthy spell is Banish which is
taught pretty fast anyway.
While at first glance, Terra might seem like a strict mage, especially
with all the plot hype, the second highest Magic score in the game,
those early magish equips and the low end physical stats, she is in
fact not that. Terra is actually more closely resembling a Red Mage
type character; she might be better with Magic than physicals, but her
physical side isn't a total lost cause. Her weapons are never bad, in
fact, early on she gets Rune Blade which has Critical Hits at the cost
of MP, (though it does less damage and costs more than casting Fire, so
advised against using it for damage purposes), in addition to boosting
Evasion as a bonus, and when she rejoins, the Elemental Swords exist for
nailing weaknesses, the Morning Star works if you want to keep her in the
back row, and Ultima Weapon exists for ignoring defense (though its power
is a bit limited at lower levels and being HP reliant makes it probably
not optimal.) Later in the game, she gets some really nasty weapons in
things like the Lightbringer, Ragnarok, and Apocalypse, all of which have
255 Battle Power (in practice), +7 vigor and 100% Critical Hit rates at
the expense of MP (and unlike, say, Ultima Weapon, these get boosted with
Trance.)
Speaking of those last three weapons...
Terra is one of the only 4 characters to naturally get Lightbringer
(meaning no Merit Award) and thus can STILL achieve perfect evasion,
though actually has to work for it now, as it can only be achieved with
Paladin Shield or dual Lightbringers. Disregarding that set up? Just
being able to use the darn thing is notable enough, since its an evil
little weapon that is completely unmatched in greatness; even Dragon's
Den stuff can't compare. If you for whatever reason missed
Lightbringer (or Ragnarok for that matter; despite mentioning it above,
I tend to assume you get Lightbringer if you have a Ragnarok, since its
generally better in everyway. From now on, assume I'm skipping
Ragnarok for that reason), Terra can still get a reasonably strong
weapon in Apocalypse in Dragon's Den. Not quite the same level of
Lightbringer, but still pretty darn good and better than her other Non-
Lightbringer options (which says a decent amount on its own, since
Terra's weapon draw is hardly lagging), and also one of the only
Dragon's Den weapons actually worth noting; it also doubles as a nice
compliment to Lightbringer for physical set ups with Terra using Genji
Glove.
All in all, Terra's damn good character. While her uses might not be
quite as obvious as other characters due to a situational special
ability, she doesn't really need anything more than that; a special
that works well in situations combined with a nice equipment draw and
stats to bolster a good universal skill set, and even brings in a
competent physical and decent defenses at the same time. All in all,
as I said earlier, she's sort of like a Red Mage, except taken a level
up cause she more excels at both Magic and Physical damage, instead of
being balanced in them.
Strategies for Terra throughout the game:
-Put Terra in the back row, until/unless you seriously start
considering using her physical with non Chain Flail/Morning
Star/Lightbringer weapons (all row ignoring.) She has enough MP to
last her in the early parts, and you want your healer to not die. Not
to mention early game Edgar is sufficient enough for offense.
-Speaking of MP, due to the nature of the early game, those early
Sleeping Bags you get work well for refilling her MP mid dungeon. In
fact, having her cast Cure on the entire team, then using a Sleep Bag on
her is just as effective as using a Tent.
-Genji Glove + Gigas Glove works nicely as a combo if you want to
conserve MP for Terra on Lethe River or Narshe Battle sequence, though
the latter might be tough to justify given Locke wants that combo more,
so probably best to just keep Terra acting as a mage.
-Give Terra the Silk Robe and Magus Hat for Narshe Battle Sequence;
defense loss from Iron Helm is negligible, and only Green beret is
debatably better than Magus Hat, though that is usable by everyone and
they have worse supplemental options anyway (barring Celes, who also
gets Magus Hat.) Silk Robe's boost to Magic Power, better speed (Iron
Armor lowers speed by 2), and higher magic defense make it a better
option as well.
-If you want, give Terra an Earring or two as well, for the extra
punch. This partially relies on what team Terra is paired with granted
(if she's paired with, say, Edgar, I'd advise against it, since Edgar
can cover offense well enough by himself, so Terra can focus on casting
Cure to keep the team alive.)
-Speaking of Narshe battle Sequence as well, it�s worth noting that Terra
is best separated from Celes. First off, they both have Cure, so they
fill the same role there. Next off, Celes makes Heavy Armors immediately
casts Tek Barrier at the beginning of the fight, which grants Reflect,
which means now Terra can�t hurt them either; such a flaw does not occur
if Terra is separated from Celes.
-When Terra rejoins, get her the Ara spells (recommended through
Maduin, unless you're fine with just one, in which case, I suggest
Shiva), Osmose (recommended through Zona Seeker; if you don't have him,
Shiva works too), and Bio (Catoblepas.) Obviously, teaching her healing
magic through Seraphim is a good idea too, but that is something you
should be doing with every character anyway (more healers is always a
good thing!)
-Its also around this time that you should start deciding whether you
want Terra to be a Mage or a Fighter, and try to raise her appropriate
stat accordingly. Especially if you choose fighter, as you'll need as
many Strength boosts as possible for it to have an impact, so you will
want that head start.
-White Dress is probably Terra's best armor in the World of Balance.
While worse defensively than the Golden Armor and the Gaia Gear, the +5
Magic Power more than makes up for it. Gaia Gear might be worth
considering though, as it stops a few attacks on the Floating
Continent, so don�t forget it exists.
-Elemental Weapons should be Terra's weapon of choice, due to the Magic
Power Bonus, and how she can often hit a weakness with one of them for
optimal physical damage, especially if the random spell kicks (though
probably requires Front Row here for best effects.) Morning Star
doesn't hurt if you want to keep her in the back row and use her as a
fighter, just be sure to give her Genji Glove.
-Once Terra gets the Mystery Veil, it'd be a wise idea to keep this on
her. The only time I might advise against this is if you feel you need
defenses, then use Red Cap for its HP and Strength Boosts (Genji Helm and
Oath Veil are just not worth it on her). This should be Terra's helmet
of choice regardless, though, if she's going the Mage path, at all points
in the game (those above options mainly exist for Fighter Terra route.)
-Speaking of Armors, Minerva Bustier all the way once that�s available.
Really is no competition in this regard, especially with evade fixed,
making Force Armor not as good as it use to be.
-Terra�s weapon of choice should ultimately be Lightbringer/Apocalypse
(depends on what everyone else is using.) Before then? Enhancer for Mage
Terra, Organyx for Fighter Terra, with Gladius/Excalibur on the side to
hit Holy Elemental weakness (maybe a Man Eater, if you want to conserve
Organyx.)
-Obviously, if taken down the mage route, Terra should be learning
strong spells. I don�t just mean �Teach her Ultima!�, I mean just give
her some late game spell(s) so that her damage is kept up to par. For
what kind of spells I mean, check the Frequently Asked Questions section.
-Use Trance SPARINGLY in Dragon's Den, more so than usual. I say this
because not a single enemy in Dragon's Den gives you AP, so once Terra
runs out, its either leave Dragon's Den to "refuel" Trance, or just
continue the rest of the way without it. This isn't to say that Terra
becomes worthless without Trance, but its something to keep in mind
when you plan on using it. Ideally, best fight to use Trance on is
probably Skull Dragon, cause she her �offense� benefits most due to the
nature of that fight.
Terra's Ultimate and other Noteworthy equipment
Weapons (listed in no particular order):
Lightbringer
Ultima Weapon
Enhancer
Apocalypse
Ragnarok
Zantetsuken
Excalibur
Organyx
Impartisan
Helmets:
Mystery Veil
Circlet
Red Cap
Genji Helm
Oath Veil
Green Beret
Saucer
Armors:
Genji Armor
Minerva Bustier
Force Armor
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
End Game Terra Set ups:
Set Up of Evil:
Lightbringer
Paladin's Shield
Green Beret
Force Armor
Zephyr's Cloak
Prayer Beads
Perfect Evade and Magic Evasion yields near immortality, especially
since it also nulls things like Meltdown due to the shield. Granted,
the flaw of this set up is, due to the Paladin's Shield, only one
character can take advantage of it. It also isn't as high on offense
as you might like, though its hardly bad (Lightbringer alone takes care
of that.)
Set Up of Evil Mark 2:
Lightbringer
Lightbringer
Green Beret
Force Armor
Genji Glove
Prayer Beads
Also gives the Perfect Evasion and Magic Evasion, however, this one is
a bit more free due to how there's unlimited Lightbringers, instead of
using a lone Paladin�s shield. Also this set up implies you've finished
the game at least once, so it�s mostly a Dragon's Den/Soul Shrine thing.
Anyway, advantages to the above set up is its much stronger offensively,
however it lacks total
elemental immunity, and has much lower defense and magic defense which
can matter against attacks Leaf Dance or something which cannot be
blocked but don't ignore defense, as well as back hits in a Surrounded
attack. Nevertheless, this is an extremely effective set up,
especially for Terra on the Fighter Route.
Set Up of Relative Balance:
Apocalypse
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield
Mystery Veil
Minerva Bustier
Given the set up isn't trying for anything in particular other than
overall balance without using rare, not unique or easy to get enough of
equipment (Paladin's Shield and Lightbringer anyone?), what Relics you
want are up to you, though I highly recommend against using Master's
Scroll, as all it does is essentially split Apocalypse damage among 4
hits while making it cost 0 MP; not really worth the relic slot, or
wasting a rare relic when the effect that matters (Evade ignoring) can
be covered with a store-bought relic in Sniper's Eye. For Genji Shield
vs. Aegis Shield, depends what you want. Genji Shield is better on
physical defense (especially noteworthy for Fighter Terra who will
probably be in the front row), while Aegis Shield is better against
magic and status.
Terra Smash:
Lightbringer
Apocalypse
Red Cap/Green Beret
Minerva Bustier
Genji Glove
While I'm not a fan of the Genji Glove in general (late game anyway),
Terra is probably the sole character in the game who can use it
effectively, since she gets 2 very strong Automatic Critical Hit
weapons in Lightbringer and Apocalypse, without having to use the Merit
Award. Anyway, Red Cap was mainly chosen cause lowish defense means
defense boosts won't be that noticeable, so HP will matter more, and
then the Strength and Speed Boosts are just icing. Green Beret is an
alternative, giving less HP than Red Cap, but offering 10% Evasion, which
can help mitigate this set ups downsides as well. Minerva Bustier, as
always, serves its purposes of stopping elemental damage, which covers
Terra�s magic resistances well for the most part. As usual, a second
Lightbringer replacing Apocalypse is ideal, but that isn�t always readily
available. This is most likely the best use you�ll get out of the Genji
Glove this late, in any event.
If you want, swap out Apocalypse for Ultima Weapon since depending on
your level, this might do more damage (ESPECIALLY if the enemy has high
defense), though do note you lose that 20% Evade and Magic Evasion.
Nukage Personified:
Lightbringer
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield
Mystery Veil
Minerva Bustier
Soul of Thamasa
If you want to maximize Terra's magic damage, this is the set up you'll
want. If you don't want to use Lightbringer for whatever reason,
Apocalypse works too, or if before the Dragon's Den, Enhancer fits.
Obviously, Paladin's Shield works here, as always, but you only have
one, and its best to avoid using it when possible, in case someone else
has more need of it (with the Minerva Bustier, Terra's not exactly
starving for Elemental Protection.)
Magic Tank Half Esper Go!:
Lightbringer
Force Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
White Cape
White Cape
Terra is one of the only characters in the game who can actually max
out that Magic Defense stat. With this set up, she pulls that off;
note that nothing less will work, and Terra has the 3rd highest Magic
Defense stat (Umaro not included, since he can't use equipment like a
normal character anyway), and she just barely hits it too, so yeah.
This set up makes Terra immune to any magic that doesn't ignore
defense, while resisting some elements just in case something like
Meltdown comes her way, though, the physical defense is pitiful. A
clean hit and she'll probably die, so using Lightbringer is kind of a
must for that 50% Evasion to provide SOME compensation (some mid battle
buff couldn�t hurt either.) This is definitely a set up where I strongly
urge sticking with Lightbringer like I suggested, as Apocalypse isn't
going to be enough here, ESPECIALLY if you want physical damage as Terra
is going to need
that back row, which Lightbringer ignores while Apocalypse does not.
If for whatever reason you feel like you need that extra magic tank
(might matter against the likes of Holy Dragon in Dragon's Den, for
example), then remember this set up.
More Damage than you'll ever need...at high levels:
Ultima Weapon
Ultima Weapon
Red Cap
Minerva Bustier
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
While I am very much not a fan of this set up (stylish as it maybe; how
can you NOT love a Pink Mystical Entity dual wielding Blue
Lightsabers?), I'm listing it anyway. This would be the highest damage
potential you can get from a physical set up after a certain level with
Terra, and it is one of the ways you can hit constant 9999x8, assuming
your HP is max, though you do need to be over leveled beyond reason
(we're talking something above 80), so its really not that reasonable
of a set up considering all the downsides (like totally lacking a
shield, or the evasion to offset it like Apocalypse gives.) Red Cap is
listed here cause Terra's defenses will be too low for Genji Helm to
salvage, so the HP Boost, as well as the stat bonus you get on the
side, will probably be better, though, it does make maxing out your HP
for full Ultima Weapon use a bit tougher, and you may wish to use Genji
Helm anyway.
For what its worth, an alternative way to get that 9999x8 threshold is to
use Lightbringer/Apocalypse, and have Terra use Trance, providing the
enemies defense isn�t too high. Again, this requires ridiculously high
levels, and its pretty much entirely novelty.
More Damage than you'll ever need...at high levels Mark 2:
Ultima Weapon
Lightbringer
Red Cap
Minerva Bustier
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
Another set up I'm listing for completion purposes. Better than the
above since at least Lightbringer grants defenses to make up for lack
of shield, but otherwise? You'd probably be getting better damage off
using Apocalypse in that weapon slot and Gigas Glove in that first
Relic Slot, until the damage limit starts hurting you. Note that this
set up can also hit 9999x8 on most things at those extremely high
levels, though Terra will probably need to be tranced unless the
defense is low. As a side note, Apocalypse works too for the 9999x8 in
this case, just Lightbringer is naturally better.
Unorthodox use of Equipment:
Lightbringer
Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
Prayer Beads
Prayer Beads
This set up grants near perfect evasion (Green Beret can max it out,
but at a cost of Magic Defense), which makes you get past most physical
damage, and the Imp stuff grants good magic defense to cover that side.
This set up is an alternative to the "Max out both evasions" set up,
generally worse, but not completely so as there are still a few moves
(like Forsaken) that this nails better than the 128/128% Set Ups.
Another advantage is the only significantly rare equip here is
Lightbringer, and even that can be horded with patience. This set up
still manages to have over 80% Magic Evasion too. If you are bold, you
can drop a Prayer Bead, and make the evasion merely excellent instead
of perfect, and put in a relic of your choice. Regardless, good Set Up
for Mage Terra, defensively anyway, and probably works for Fighter
Terra due to Lightbringer.
Miscellaneous Stuff regarding Terra:
-Terra is one of the easiest characters to get back in the World of
Ruins. Simply requires beating a boss (twice if you didn�t do the first
half earlier) that isn't particularly hard, especially if you grabbed the
early Minerva Bustier via Coliseum, and she joins. As a fun side note,
Terra rejoining forces you into a 3 party team, which makes getting Gau
right after her ideal since you're already set up for that. In any
event, try to take advantage of this and get Terra back as early as
possible.
-Terra is the only character in the game with easy access to the Drain
spell. While other characters can only learn it at a x1 rate from
Ifrit, Terra learns it naturally and at a relatively low level to boot
(its conceivable to have it by the Narshe Battle Sequence, for
example.) Not all that useful, but still interesting to note (and part
of why her SCC is so easy.)
-Infinite Esper Form! Well, for one battle anyway. If you actually
read the description on Trance, you'll notice the thing about the Auto
Revert not kicking in if Terra is disabled at the time through something
like Stop or Sleep. If Terra's gauge is running out soon, hit her with
the status, wait for the gauge to run out, then cast Esuna on her.
Useful trick against Kaiser Dragon, for example, who is actually a long
fight so if you can pull this off, it might help.
-Despite how they ignore defense (...and random variance), breaking
Rods to cast spells does not ignore Trance. Terra breaking an
elemental rod when Tranced, and hitting a weakness can yield some
rather drastic results. Shields work too, naturally, but hitting the
damage cap with them outside of Trance is not hard at all, so its vaguely
meaningless.
-Similar to the above, (Fixed) Dice, despite ignoring defense, also do
not Ignore Trance. So if you hand Terra the Merit Award, and give her
Fixed Dice for some unknown reason, keep this in mind! In fact, if you
really want a lot of mayhem, do what I just said, and then add on Berserk
Status, and naturally, Master�s Scroll. I do not suggest you do this
normally, mind, hence why I�m listing it here; it�s a novelty set up, not
much else.
-Trance + Quick = Infinite Loop! Well, until you run out of Trance.
Basically, what you do is cast Quick. Your first action use normally,
then Trance. Terra will automatically get a free turn thanks to
Trance, yet the game still reads that as a Quick turn, so you can
recast Quick. Cast Quick again (You might have to swap characters,
mind; this is most notable with Terra alone), do the same thing, only
this time using Revert. Keep this up, and Terra can keep cheesing the
enemy out! Note that a similar thing can be pulled off with Dualcast
from a Soul of Thamasa, but that's a bit of a bug you might want to
avoid abusing (and Soul of Thamasas aren't easy to come by either...)
Note that due to the nature of ATB system, this infinite loop isn't
perfect, but it still can be fun to play with.
-As a fun random fact, Terra is one of the few PCs who at level 99,
will naturally have 999 MP (actually her theoretical value is in the 4
digits, but there's that 999 cap), meaning if you're into getting that
value for level 99 purposes, you never need to give her an MP boosting
Esper.
-While this is a general item dupe trick, it should be mentioned here
cause it�s directly related to Terra. Bare in mind that I�m not 100% on
the specifics of this, so I might be a bit off. If in the final tier of
the final battle, if you reach it with less than 4 characters, that empty
slot from what I understand will be replaced with Clone Terra. This
Terra Is identical to your Terra in everyway, down to its stats and
equipment. Once you beat Kefka and save the game, this Clone Terra
disappears. So how does this help? Well, if you have Terra as one of
the few characters who made it to the Final Tier, there will be 2 Terra�s
present there; the original and the clone. You can thus remove the
equipment in the Clone Terra�s hands and put it in your inventory. The
Terra you have when you load a clear game will still have the same stuff
as the original Terra, and the Clone will cease to be as usual�however,
the stuff you removed from the Clone will remain cause it will be in your
inventory, and the game will read it as such! This means you can
actually get infinite number of anything Terra can hold in her hands if
you are willing to go through the effort. Noteworthy things that were
finite in supply before are Fixed Dice, Valiant Knife and Paladin�s
Shield (in addition to potentially having the Cursed Shield and Paladin�s
Shield in your inventory at the same time!)
-If you read the Queen�s Diary in the Ancient Castle, Terra will get a
unique line if she�s in your party.
-Terra is the only character who will show up in the Game�s Ending even
if you DO NOT recruit her. By extension, she�s one of two characters
(Setzer being the other) whose personal ending scene in the montage has
no alternative scenarios (be it a whole new scene or the �Face over Town
of Importance�)
Skill set:
While Terra lacks a unique skill set with actual...umm...skills, she
does get magic naturally, so I suppose its only fair I tell you what
spells she learns naturally and when here.
Lv 1: Cure
Lv 3: Fire
Lv 6: Poisona
Lv 12: Drain
Lv 18: Raise
Lv 22: Fira
Lv 26: Teleport
Lv 33: Cura
Lv 37: Dispel
Lv 43: Firaga
Lv 49: Arise
Lv 57: Holy
Lv 68: Break
Lv 75: Graviga
Lv 86: Meltdown
Lv 99: Ultima
And while she has access to these next moves like�never (only two
sections of the game, and they�re both really short), I might as well
toss them here since they are technically related to her. Only listing
the Unique Moves.
Magitek:
Magitek Missile:
Non-Elemental Damage to one enemy, ignores defense, adds Siezure (note
that everything you use this on is either immune to Siezure or gets one
shotted by it, so you�ll never notice that part <_<)
Confuser:
Confuses all enemies.
Banisher:
Instant Death to one enemy
Bio Blast:
Deals Poison damage to all enemies, inflicts Poison and Siezure status.
Ending thought:
Its easy to see that Terra garners so much respect from most people.
Terra starts off a little slow, picks up somewhat later, and as the
game goes on, she gets better and better. This, combined with no real
flaws beyond being somewhat unimpressive early game make her an
outstanding character, one defiantly worthy of being Top Tier, if not
the games best character. Once you start having full range of choices
in your team, she's always a prime option to consider.
=======
| LOCKE |
=======
#Adventurer#
Extra HP: 48
Extra MP: 7
Strength: 37
Speed: 40
Stamina: 31
Magic Power: 28
Attack: 14
Defense: 46
Evasion: 15%
Magic Defense: 23
Magic Evasion: 2%
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: Mirage Dive
Special Ability: Steal/Mug
Effects: Steals an item from the opponent. Chance of success is based
on Locke's current level compared to the level of the monster he's
stealing from. Chance of success is doubled with Thief's Bracer on.
With Brigand's Glove on, Steal becomes Mug, which works exactly like
the "Fight" command as if it had an "Add: Steal" attribute to it. Note
that Mug does not allow for replacement effects to occur (like Wing
Edge's "X-death" ability), but addition affects (like Lightbringer's
random Holy spells) will still work. Enemies can have up to two
potential items to steal; a common steal which occurs 7/8 times, and a
rare steal at 1/8. You can only steal once per enemy. If the enemy
has only one kind of steal, and the success is made against the empty
slot, the game treats it as a failure (so if you go for #128's
Kazekiri, and Locke made a successful steal against his common slot
which is empty, the game will just give a normal failure message.) If
there is nothing to steal at all, the game will make note of this as
well.
Character Analysis:
If there is anyone who can be considered a strict fighter with no
strings attached in FF6, that would probably be Locke. With a great
weapon selection, low magic stats, and moderate physical stats, as well
as lack of a noteworthy special ability (at least as far as damage
goes), Locke relies on his physical game to hurt things. Due to how
FF6 works with physical damage though, this means he is rather lagging
in the early parts of the game, and its only later on that he starts
becoming something worth noting.
Locke big thing comes from the Valiant Knife. This weapon ignores
defense, meaning its much stronger than the lowish Attack would
imply, and in addition, gets linearly stronger as Locke loses HP. This
makes him an ideal candidate for the Master's Scroll, regardless of
levels, especially since the Valiant Knife's HP Bonus ignores the
Master's Scroll's Damage/2 per hit penalty (though do note that its
base damage does not.) Outside of that, Locke has some other
noteworthy, main one being one of the four natural Lightbringer users.
Unfortunately though, unlike characters like Terra or Celes, Locke's
poor magic stat with very little to boost it with means he's hard
pressed to work with any weapon for pure defensive reasons, at least in
a way that'd make him stand out. This is especially bad since the only
weapon that boosts his Magic Power significantly is (ie more than +2), in
fact, the Lightbringer. To Locke�s Credit, he has a lot of time to work
away his Magic Power deficit in the WoB, but I�ll get to that later.
One thing Locke does like in FF6a is how Evasion now does something.
Due to this, a few of his weapons get better, most notably would be the
Main Gauche early in the game, with its evasion bonus, and his base 15%
Evasion, makes him a bit more durable than he originally was. While
these boosts are minor, they still are ones, and make him a little
better. As a fun side note, the Valiant Knife also gives an evasion
boost itself, so go figure, Locke�s most significant weapon of all things
got improved.
Another �niche� Locke has is the best speed in the game, in all ways.
His starting speed is game best, and throughout the game, as early as Mt.
Koltz with the Main Gauche, he gets weapons that boost his speed, as well
as a few other equips like the Ninja Gear that do so as well. This
sounds like a nice touch, but sadly, his speed isn�t high enough to
really be noticeable, and for a good part of the game, he doesn�t have
much use for his turns.
What do I mean? Well, early in the game, Locke has absolutely nothing
going for him. He gets slightly stronger weapons than others, but until
the Genji Glove kicks in, its not going to offset specials like Magic,
Tools, Blitz, etc, especially since Locke requires front row, while all
the other characters do not. Genji Glove helps offset this some, but he
doesn�t really stand out on damage, and again, still requires Front Row.
After Narshe Battle Sequence, he finally gets Back Row damage! Except he
still doesn�t really stand out since his damage isn�t very special,
and/or he lacks true utility worth like Celes has (such as being a
healer.) Espers kick in, Locke ABSOLUTELY requires Ramuh to pull his
weight in that dungeon; the enemies have ludicrous defense, and Locke has
no way around it otherwise. This is a good idea, though its worth noting
that Celes could make use of Ramuh as well, and do more drastic things
with it. Locke finally gets a neat weapon in the Hawkeye when that
dungeon ends�except now things are spiking somewhat, and he�s just
becoming unreliable. To Locke�s credit, he has plenty of time to learn
Ara spells and such, so he can make a passable mage, which is probably
the best you�ll get out of him early, though he�s not exactly stellar at
it (contrast to someone like Terra who has such a Magic Power advantage,
her use with the skill set stands out.)
So what of Locke in the WoR? Well, WoR Locke has the Valiant Knife
from the get go, so right there that's a boost. Further more, with
relics like the Master's Scroll coming up, Locke suddenly got a decent
amount of damage and has some twink potential worth noting that lets
him become a competent character, much more than his first half of the
game self. Its a pity Locke is practically a pure fighter though; his
new weapon from Dragon's Den, the Zwill Crossblade, is pretty darn nice
on paper, however, Locke will most likely be used for his physical
damage and Zwill Crossblade doesn't really allow that much for that
particularly well (barring hitting enemies weak to Wind). Pity really,
as its the kind of weapon someone like Cyan or Sabin would kill for, yet
it was given to a character who really doesn't have much use for it.
Doesn't help the weapon is still completely inferior to
Lightbringer...though then again, what isn't?
One advantage Locke has to his name is usability. In the WoB, you're
forced to use him a lot, and he's available at all points when you have
Espers, so you can teach him a fair amount of spells for a head start,
at least, and raising him as a Mage can work in the short run if you
boost his Magic Power given he has plenty of levels to work with, to
offset that low starting Magic Power. However, you�ll also want as many
Strength boosts as possible if you want to use him as an effective
fighter, so you may want to give him an early start in raising his
Strength. Regarding the Lightbringer being his only Mage weapon, its
worth noting that while Locke has time to offset his low Magic Power with
Esper time, he�ll never catch the girls, and thanks to the Phoenix Cave,
Edgar probably offsets what little edge Locke has on him, so Locke never
really ends up an ideal candidate for that weapon anyway, at least for
magic purposes.
Ok, so I've talked about his weapon options and usability throughout
different points, but never once mentioned his armor, did I? If I did,
I have a bad memory, or was too lazy to read over my own FAQ, but
that's not the point. Locke's armor selection isn't too shabby, though
its definitely not anything all that special either. He gets some
noteworthy armors in Force Armor for example, but misses out on the big
ones like Minerva Bustier and Snow Scarf. Basically, his armor is very
much not noteworthy, be it good or bad, since while he does get a few
important things mid game like Gaia Gear and Power Sash, he still
misses out on some of the really good stuff like I said before, so in
the end, I suppose you could call his armor draw average.
So what of Steal then? There's sadly not all that much special that
can be stolen. There are a few interesting items here and there, but in
the grand scheme of things, nothing particularly special. Its best use
is saving/making money, as its not particularly great at the getting rare
stuff in bulk or getting strong equips early. There are a few gems he
can nab here and there, though I won�t get into what they are mostly
cause this FAQ is long enough; you can refer to the Bestiary (be it a FAQ
or the game itself) for what kind of interesting things he can nab, if
you so care (especially since what is worth stealing is subjective.)
All in all, Locke is a character you use for his weapon selection, and
maybe if you want to help monetary issues some at points in the game. He
tends to get some really big fans for one reason or another, and some
will even try to go as far as saying he's the best character, but in
reality, he's fairly middling by the end, with a pretty bad start, and
never really being anything close to Top Tier at any point in the game.
Strategies for Locke throughout the game:
-When Edgar first joins, give his Mythril Blade to Locke. Edgar won't
really be using his weapons ever at this point (Autocrossbow is flat
out better), and Locke has nothing but his physical, hence its the best
use of it. Plus it saves money.
-Giving Locke one of the Gigas Glove or Hyper Wrist is another way to
improve his worth; do note that Edgar might want one of these as well,
so its a tough call as to whether you should give Locke them or not, as
its between making your best character better, or improving the worth of
someone who needs it.
-When you first get it, give Locke the Genji Glove. If it was on Terra
for the Lethe River, then be sure to remove it form her before doing
Locke�s scenario! It�s really the only way he's going to do any sort of
damage throughout the next few sections of the game. If you got the
Gauntlet instead, use that anyway, even if it�s clearly worse than Genji
Glove, its better than nothing. A Gigas Glove or Hyper Wrist would be
advisable too, given you start having enough of those to go around.
-Try to steal the 2nd Air Knife from Tunnel Armor. The extra damage
should help some with the Genji Glove, after all. If you were unlucky
and got a Bio Blaster instead, though, don't bother resetting; using
the Main Gauche works well enough (especially since now the evade does
something.)
-In the Magitek Factory, it might be wise to give Locke Ramuh; he
doesn't have any way of hurting enemies otherwise due to their high
defense, Genji Glove be damned, so Locke would like at least something,
and Thunder, let alone the Ramuh summon, give him at least something
approaching damage there. It doesn't hurt to give Locke Ramuh right
from the start, actually, to give him a head start in learning spells,
hopefully learning Thundara somewhere in the factory. Equipping Locke
temporarily with elemental weapons for the Magic Power Boostlike the
Icebrand doesn't hurt either.
-After the Factory, Locke will have access to a lot of useful weapons
between the Elemental Swords and Hawkeyes. While equipping Hawkeyes and
staying with them the entire way seems effective, the best way to use
Locke is to actually micromanage his weapons consistently so that he�s
constantly hitting elemental weaknesses, defaulting to Hawkeye whenever
he can�t. This does require Front Row, but you may find that relying on
Hawkeyes is a bit unreliable, where as while the Elemental Swords are
weaker, they are hitting their weaknesses 100% of the time, yielding more
net damage than Hawkeyes.
-Assassin�s Dagger is probably Locke�s best weapon for Mage purposes
early on (if not the entire game pre-Lightbringer.) Boasting an Evasion
Boost, and Magic Power Boost, its ideal for those purposes. However, do
NOT use it as a weapon against enemies in the Sealed Cave; they are
undead and will heal as a result.
-When Locke rejoins in the second half of the game, he should be given
the Valiant Knife and really, think of it as stapled onto him. It�s his
big unique thing, and what makes him good, best make use of it. I can
see taking it off if you wanted to give him Lightbringer, which
naturally is never a bad idea (unless you're still using Master's
Scroll, but I'll get into why that's a bad idea later on in section 9.)
In fairness, weapons like the Sniper or Wing Edge have some situational
use that you may be able to take advantage of, but for the most part,
Valiant Knife is his weapon. This extends even into Dragon's Den,
where, despite the Zwill Crossblade, Valiant Knife remains Locke's best
overall weapon (barring Lightbringer, of course.).
-If you're using the Valiant Knife for that matter, Master's Scroll would
be a very wise thing to give Locke. This is the thing that turns Locke
from "bottom tier" to "competent character" really. There's even some
unique and cute ways to enhance the effects of Master's Scroll using the
Red Cap and such. Do note that, unless you completed the Soul Shrine and
grabbed a second one from a Glutturn, its best to keep Locke and Setzer
in different teams, since they both want the Master's Scroll, unless you
plan on using Locke with Lightbringer of course.
Locke's Ultimate and other Noteworthy equipment
Weapons (listed in no particular order):
Lightbringer
Ultima Weapon
Wing Edge
Zwill Crossblade
Ragnarok
Sniper
Excalibur
Valiant Knife
Impartisan
Helmets:
Circlet
Red Cap
Genji Helm
Green Beret
Priest's Miter
Saucer
Armors:
Genji Armor
Force Armor
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
End Game Locke Set Ups:
Canon Cannon:
Valiant Knife
Aegis Shield/Genji Shield/Thunder Shield
Red Cap
Genji Armor
Master's Scroll
Locke's best overall damage set up. I know you're thinking "What about
Genji Glove" and I'll get to the weaknesses of that later. Valiant
Knife + Master's Scroll is always a good set up, especially when the HP
loss damage bonus increases 4 fold, since that ignores the Master's
Scroll damage penalty. Genji Armor was chosen over Force Armor since
it boosts Strength, and considering Locke's probably going to want
Front Row, he's going to need that extra defense. For shield, though,
defense differences are a bit less, so it depends what you're aiming
at. If Magic Defenses go with Aegis Shield, if physical, go for Genji
Shield, and if you want elemental resistance (this set up is completely
lacking in any), Thunder Shield works. Also note the Red Cap strategy
explained in miscellaneous info works rather well with this set up. You
can use Muscle Belt if you want to further exploit the HP Manipulation
trick more, though you may prefer a different filler relic.
The Legendary Seesaw Combo:
Valiant Knife
Ultima Weapon
Genji Helm
Genji Armor
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
Why did I name it the way I did? Because this set up has been hyped
from long before the game got hacked like crazy, hence the legendary
part, and Seesaw refers to how the weapons work. Valiant Knife gets
stronger as your HP goes down, and Ultima Weapon gets stronger as HP
goes up. The issue is, granted, that Ultima Weapon doesn't REALLY get
stronger at higher HP; more along the lines that its damage decreases
as you lose HP, since it alters damage literally based on your Current
HP relative to your Max HP, not like Valiant Knife which just shoves
the HP Loss into damage. Any who, Genji Armor used cause its best
defense and he needs the defenses in this set up, and it boosts
Strength to boot. Genji Helm is the defense reasons again, though I
suppose Red Cap might work as a substitute. The Set Up has decent
damage, I guess, and was the original 9999x8 (couldn't get 2 Ultima
Weapons (aka Atma Weapon) easily in the original FF6), but considering
all the downsides, is it worth it? I, alongside many others,
personally don't think so, as the set up listed above isn't that far
off offensively, much better defensively, and isn't as reliant on
relics (notice how the set up before this only requires one Relic,
while this one requires two?), but hey, you might disagree. This is
another case of me listing it mostly to avoid someone shouting my ass
off for forgetting this set up.
Set Up of Evil:
Lightbringer
Paladin's Shield
Green Beret
Force Armor
White Cape
Prayer Beads
This set up is exactly like Terra's version, except I through on the
White Cape instead of the Zephyr Cloak, since Locke already 128%
Evasion, figured he'd like the minor defense boosts White Cape
gives, since it too covers the Magic Evasion. More or less the same
Applications as what Terra has, for the whole nigh invincibility thing.
Conversely, you can give Locke that Zephyr Cloak back and replace his
helmet with something else like a Red Cap or whatever, if you want to
increase his offense, or a Genji Helm if you are afraid of back attacks
or unevadable magic.
Set Up of Evil Mark 2:
Lightbringer
Lightbringer
Green Beret
Force Armor
Genji Glove
Prayer Beads
Also should look familiar, since Terra had this same set up as well.
If you can get your hands on a second Lightbringer, this is probably
the better set up of the two 128% ones, especially for a fighter like
Locke. Main reason of course is that, while losing elemental
resistance which matters for moves like Meltdown, there are unlimited
Lightbringers and only one Paladin's Shield.
Head Towards the Light:
Lightbringer
Aegis Shield/Genji Shield/Thunder Shield
Red Cap/Genji Helmet/Circlet
Force Armor/Genji Armor
Ok, you're looking at this set up and probably thinking "What's with
all the alternatives?" Well, basically, the concept behind this is
that its Locke using Lightbringer in a manner that doesn't require two
nor does it require that sole Paladin's Shield. For what to use where�it
really depends on what you want. For example, Circlet is best for Magic
Damage purposes, Red Cap is better for physical damage purposes, and
Genji Helmet is best for overall defenses, providing you equip the other
Genji Stuff alongside it (Augmenting Returns.) In any event, this
flexible set up has two purposes. One is its well balanced for Locke
overall, letting him act as a fighter or a mage, while retaining a good
defensive backing. The other is that it opens up things like the
Master�s Scroll for characters like Setzer who also want it.
More Viable though still risky High Damage Set Up:
Valiant Knife
Lightbringer
Red Cap
Genji Armor/Force Armor
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
Similar to that set up with Terra where she uses Lightbringer and
Ultima Weapon together, except Locke's using Valiant Knife instead
cause, well, its just a better weapon. More viable than the Ultima
Weapon set up mostly cause Lightbringer's damage doesn't get hurt as
Valiant Knife's raises, and its at least makes up for the lack of a
shield to some extent, not to mention the +7 Vigor boosts the full
damage set up. Not a set up I recommend, just throwing it out there
for another option though. Force Armor vs. Genji Armor comes down to
the usual Magic Evasion and Elemental Resistance (especially since you
lack a shield here) against Stat Boosts and higher defenses.
Unorthodox use of Equipment:
Lightbringer
Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
Prayer Beads
Prayer Beads/Zephyr Cloak
Same thing as Terra's, only Locke's version has actually maxed evasion,
so it might be a bit more viable on him, as well as Zephyr Cloak being
a potentially better equip since it grants extra Magic Evasion for the
sake of losing 3% effective evasion (remember, only values below 128%
matter.) Granted, unlike Terra, Locke's magic power leaves a bit more
to be desired, so this might end up worse overall, and his magic
defense is significantly worse (this matters when your magic defense is
that high, due to the concept of augmenting returns.) In Locke's
case though, he might be a bit more flexible than Terra due to the
higher base evasion, as he can drop that Relic Slot and have 115%
Evasion (instead of 105%), which might be high enough all things
considered. Regardless, still a neat set up, something worth looking
into.
Massive Over leveled Damage...the MANLY version:
Ultima Weapon
Ultima Weapon
Red Cap
Genji Armor/Force Armor
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
See Terra�s set up with a similar name�except this one is worse for a
number of reasons. The big one? No Minerva Bustier, leaving you far more
open to Magic Attacks than hers. Its really a pure novelty set up, and
the only real advantage it has on Locke�s Seesaw Set Up is doing 9999x8
in the Back Row at max HP. Like I said, pure novelty, and only listing
it for completion purposes.
Miscellaneous stuff regarding Locke:
-Master's Scroll + Brigand's Glove, the never ending myth. Sadly, while
this combo seems excellent on paper for multi-stealing purposes, but its
not as good as it seems. IIRC, there is a bug where once you steal,
the game will claim you steal that same object several times in a row,
regardless of target, even though you only steal it once. Also, I seem
to recall that the game doesn't make the check to steal 4x, its actually
only once, and the game just reiterates the steal message multiple
times. Not certain on this, but basically, this combo isn't worth it
at all. Better off just sticking to Thief's Bracers for raising steal
odds.
-The never ending dungeon of doom! Well, ok, not really, but Locke is
quite possibly the hardest and most annoying character to get in the
WoR. He has easily the longest dungeon of any character (Phoenix
Cave), and said dungeon has annoying enemies too (one of whom is
unrunnable), and requires two parties (though, one party, to be fair,
could just be Mog solo w/ a Moogle Charm). Granted?
-Locke is needed to get Ultima and/or Lightbringer (at least, prior to
the final battle, where Gogo and Shadow can be used as substitutes),
unless you like wasting time getting Terra to level 99 (at which point,
its useless.) Both Ragnarok AND the Paladin's Shield require Locke to
obtain. This is probably the best reason to get him, as they are nasty
objects you'll want, regardless.
-Thief's Bracers DO NOT STACK. Well, ok, the speed boosts do, but not
the Steal aspect. Thought I should throw this out, as its an often
enough asked question. So don't bother equipping a 2nd Thief's Bracer
unless you like another +5 to speed or something.
-Abusing the HP Boosting Equips properly! What do I mean? For the
explanation below, I�ll be using Red Cap as an example, but it works with
Muscle Belt and Green Beret too, just adjust the values to reflect proper
boosts instead (Muscle Belt is 50% and Green beret is 12.5%, FYI).
Anyway, a neat way to inflate Locke's damage with the Valiant Knife,
especially with the Master's Scroll equipped, is to actually take off
that Red Cap. This will lower his HP back to his normal maximum HP,
assuming it was a value above that. Then re-equip the Red Cap, and DO
NOT heal him. This will suddenly add 25% of Locke's HP BEFORE the Red
Cap was equipped into his damage, which is especially nice with the
Master's Scroll due to how that ignores the damage penalty per hit.
Confused? Maybe numbers will explain better. Suppose Locke had 1000 HP
normally, so with Red Cap, that would become 1250 (1000*1.25.) Now, Red
Cap only increases the MAX HP, not the Current HP, so while Locke's max
HP will be increased to 1250, his Current HP will still be 1000, so
that's 250 difference between current HP and Max HP, and that HP Loss
gets added to Valiant Knife's damage. Mind, Locke's HP will likely be
higher than that, just used 1000 cause its a simple and easy value to
work with. Regardless, it�s a way to use Valiant Knife's HP Loss ->
Damage conversion without Locke actually having to receive damage. Note
that if you equip Muscle Belt alongside one of the HP Helmets, you�ll
have to un-equip BOTH for the strategy to work best.
-Mug cancels out replacement effects, as some people call them.
Basically, while random spell casting (such as Ice Brand's Blizzard)
still works, because those bytes are differently, and thus are Addition
Effects (damage dealt first, THEN the special effect kicks in), True
Special Effects (often called Replacement Effects) are ignored. Ultima
Weapon now acts like a normal 255 Power Sword, for example, same with
Valiant Knife acting like a normal 159 Attack weapon. Weapons like Wing
Edge or the Assassin's Knife won't ever have their instant death, Blood
Sword won't drain HP and do normal damage regardless of the user or
enemies HP, weapons like Lightbringer won't have 100% Critical Hit rate
anymore (likewise, it won't use up MP either), what have you. If there
is anything odd about a weapon that isn't stat related or a random spell
casting, Mug removes it.
-Related to the above, however, for an interesting use of Mug, equip
that and the Ultima Weapon together. Suddenly, Ultima Weapon is now a
normal weapon with 255 Attack. Sure, sounds meh, but then
consider you can do this somewhere halfway through the World of
Balance. Not particularly useful, but still neat considering how early
it is.
-If Locke is in your team when you do Gau's Father sequence alongside
Edgar, you'll get an extra bit of dialogue (and extra bit of Gau
makeover) in that sequence for added humor.
-Common knowledge, but thought I'd toss it out anyway. If you bring
Locke to Rachel's House and the Old Man's Basement in WoB Kohlingen,
you can get some extra scenes regarding Locke and Rachel's back story.
Again, no real use to this in the long run, but still neat to see.
-If you do not recruit Locke in the WoR, his ending scene which he shares
with Celes will be altered to compensate for the lack of him.
Skill set:
Locke doesn't really have a skill set. He has Steal, and with a
specific equip, that becomes Mug. There isn't much to say beyond this.
I guess I can tell you the Steal Algorithms, at least briefly, which
are essentially...
(Locke's Level + 50 - Target's Level)% = Steal Rate
If Thief's Bracer is equipped, than Steal Rate is doubled.
There is a 87.5% chance of stealing from the Common Steal slot, and
12.5% chance of stealing from the Rare Steal slot
If Locke tries to steal from an empty slot, but the enemy has a steal
in the other slot (like Number 128 has a Rare Steal being Kazekiri, but
no Common Steal), then the game treats it like a normal failure.
NOTE: If someone else is using steal (like Gogo), then use that
character's level, naturally. Mug works the same way, but with does
normal physical damage as well.
Ending Thought:
Locke has one of the worst, if not the worst, starts in the game, and
stays considerably below average for the entire first half of the game,
but picks up a bit and becomes decent enough in the second half of the
game. He's not exactly the most valuable of character, he's not the
worst either (though he might feel like it often in the early parts of
the game.) Not really worth the hype he sometimes get for the Master's
Scroll + Genji Glove set up or whatever, but that doesn't mean he's
strictly bad too. A decent character if built properly, but somewhat of
a project.
======
| CYAN |
======
#Samurai#
Extra HP: 53
Extra MP: 5
Strength: 40
Speed: 28
Stamina: 33
Magic Power: 25
Attack: 25
Defense: 48
Evasion: 6%
Magic Defense: 20
Magic Evasion: 1%
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: Tsubame Gaeshi
Special ability: Bushido
Effects: When selected, a bar will gradually raise, below a set of
numbers. Pressing A again signifies you are ready to act. What move
is used is determined by the highest highlighted number, each having
predetermined moves (so if 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all highlighted,
whatever move is assigned to 4 will be used. In this case, it'd be
Flurry.) There are up to 8 Levels of Bushidos. Note that in order to
use a Bushido, the weapon being used must be compatible with Bushido
(can be checked on the weapon's stat screen), though its worth noting
that all of Cyan's weapons he can use normally are compatible anyway
barring the Impartisan, so this factor is trivial. Also note that none of
Cyan's Bushidos are targetable, and that unlike other nonFight/Jump
commands, time still moves during this, so "Wait" does not help this
cause. Lastly, while Cyan is charging his Bushido, no other commands can
be given to any other character without interrupting (thus resetting) the
charge time. Do note that moves that were commanded to be used before
Cyan started charging, as well as actions that are activated naturally
like counter attacks from Black Belt or Gau's Rages.
Character Analysis:
There's not much good to say about Cyan, sadly. A lot of people will
love him for the "able to break the damage limit (9999) without a relic
slot!" aspect, without yielding to the fact that it only becomes
significant at levels too high to largely care. Nevertheless, if the
stats didn't give it away, Cyan doesn't make a very good mage at all.
Decent physical stats, but game worst Magic Power and lacking in the
department to boost those stats (Genji Armor and Circlet are his only
options) make for a pretty sad mage. As a fighter, Cyan is lacking in
any real noteworthy weapons, though he gets a quirky one here and
there. For what its worth, he's also the second slowest character in
the game, as only Strago is slower.
Cyan's major flaw, without a doubt, comes from his charge times, and
how in general the moves he gets from them not really being worth the
time it takes, in addition to lacking any sort of compensation. There
are ways to make the charge times easier to work with through
manipulating your turns, but that still wastes time for the rest of the
team, so even though it feels like your saving time on Cyan, its still
harming the overall team output. The fact that his Bushidos can't be
targeted doesn't help, especially in the cases of Flurry and Tempest,
where he can end up spreading his 4 hits among multiple enemies, yielding
a weak Multitarget move, instead of a strong Single Target move. Now,
I'll be honest; I've experimented with Bushidos in hacking and found that
if some of the moves were improved, they would be worth the charge time
(like if Tempest was equivalent to Chain Saw on each hit, for example),
but in the end, he often comes out being Sabin who gains charge times
for the sake of doing a bit more damage, which is harder to boost too
(in general, Magic Damage is easier to boost than Physicals) so that
damage edge isn't much. In fairness, his armor selection isn't TOO bad,
getting most of the same things Locke gets, though misses out on some
moderately useful things (Ninja Gear and Gaia Gear to name a few.)
To his credit, Quick can be used to offset the charge times, and give
him unlimited time to charge. This sounds great, right? I mean, what's
better than giving Cyan unlimited time to charge his moves for a mild MP
Cost (MP late game is a minor factor overall)? Well, the thing is,
Bushidos you'll find aren't quite as strong as you'd like them to be, and
you might as well stick with Magic, Dragoon Set Ups, Blitzes, etc. for
similar damage that does NOT require Quick to be used. In actuality,
Quick is often used as an argument for saving Cyan's worth, and while its
true it makes Bushidos a lot more valuable...its not really making Cyan
uber, more just having the largest noticeable effect on him. What do I
mean? I mean Quick makes ANYONE in FF6 brutal; its a nasty evil spell to
begin with. Cyan's improvement from the spell is high mostly relative to
himself without it; the fact that he NEEDS the spell a lot more than
others says something in and of itself.
So what of his lower end moves, the ones that need less charging?
Well, Sky gets random hype for its excellent early game damage, which I
admit is high, though its very situational, so not the most practical of
things. Tiger really just lacks any useful applications, since early FF6
is lacking in Large, High HP Randoms that can be hit with Instant Death,
and when they start appearing, you already have REAL Instant Death for an
even better effect. When you start hitting moves like Flurry, the charge
times become apparent, so refer to the above. Fang, now, that's decent
for the early parts of the game. Like Blitz, it succeeds at killing most
of what it hits, so this makes Cyan not that much worse than Sabin, and
can pull his weight during the Narshe Battle Sequence. It�s not long
after that, though, that Cyan's worth starts dropping gradually,
especially in the Magitek Factory where enemies make a mockery of
Flurry (high defense and it doesn't ignore it), and his damage with
Fang is clearly worse than, at very least, what Edgar and Sabin can do
reliably (and you only have 2 open slots, since Celes and Locke are
required.)
Regarding Cyan�s Esper Time? He�s entirely non-stand out in this regard.
He quite clearly loses to Terra, Setzer, Edgar, and Sabin, is roughly
even with Celes and Locke, and beats the rest. This doesn�t sound like
much of a flaw, but it ties in with another aspect of Cyan�s; his game
worst Magic Power. Because his Magic Power is the lowest in the game,
and unlike other low Magic Power characters like Edgar or Locke, he lacks
the Esper Time and/or equips to make up for it. While Magic is a good
fall back for most characters, once you start relying on that argument,
Cyan still falls short. Its also worth noting cause it ties in with one
of his set ups (Kazekiris), and it�s a good example as to why this combo
isn�t quite as amazing as you�d first think, since the low Magic Power
does well to offset the potential.
So what about his equipment options? Armor wise, I covered; he doesn�t
Stand out one way or another in this regard. As far as his weapons
go...Cyan kind of got the short end of the stick, at least until Dragon's
Den. Any weapon he gets that doesn't boost stats or have some sort of
special effect is pretty much meaningless; Fang does more than a physical
and ignores row to boot. As such, right there that makes most of his
weapons pretty pointless outside of Black Belt purposes. Useful ones?
Asura, if only cause its his first one and free, so that�s kind of a
default thing. Kazekiri has a unique effect in being the only weapon
that randomly casts a MT spell, AND said effect is even compatible with
the Master's Scroll. Downside? Master's Scroll lowers the damage of
physical Bushidos (so this means Fang, Tempest and Flurry), so Cyan
pretty much becomes a one trick pony and pure Random Encounter slayer,
and not a particularly good one late. It�s a decent weapon early, I
suppose. Murasame and Mitsunokami are both useful if only cause they
give evasion boosts, so at least they serve a purpose that compliments
Bushiods. His bets weapon overall is Zanmato (at least, for Bushido
purposes.) Only weapon of his that boosts Strength, and gives a nice
+30% Evade, it compliments Bushidos rather well. Being Holy Elemental
has some minor applications I suppose.
All in all, Cyan is a character that wasn't thought out well. Low
Magic score with little boosts forces him into being a fighter, which
he isn't good at either, and his lack of really special equips barring
maybe the Kazekiri, which runs off his game worst Magic Stat anyway,
rounds out to be a rather low end character. Some people try to support
him coming with a lot of quirk ways, but these set ups tend to benefit
Cyan and only Cyan, while hurting the other three members of the party,
so its actually hurtful more than helpful in the grand scheme of
things. Oh, and do not fall for "Genji Glove + Master's Scroll on Cyan
= Win!" Outside of maybe Kazekiri, Cyan is one of the WORST characters
to do that combo with.
Strategies for Cyan throughout the game:
-When you get to South Figaro, be sure to buy one extra Heavy Shield
for your team (you should only need 3, granted. Celes gets one in the
dungeon she rejoins in, and Locke will probably sacrifice his for a
Genji Glove); Cyan will want to make use of that after all.
-Don't ever bother buying a weapon for Cyan. All his noteworthy
weapons are found in chests or stolen. It�s a waste of money since Fang
will always out damage his physical; only point to his physical is
targetable damage (or alternatively, with Black Belt), but its worth it
since its significantly worse than Fang in general and it requires giving
up Back Row anyway.
-If you can pull it off, try to steal that Kazekiri from Number 128 on
the mine cart ride; if you miss it, you'll be left with only one
Kazekiri from the Sealed Cave until the Soul shrine, which kind of
hurts his use (he'd like to Genji Glove Kazekiris for, say, IAF
Sequence.)
-When Cyan gets Murasame on the Floating Continent, keep that equipped
at all times until you get the Mutsunokami or Zanmato, at least if you
plan on using Bushidos. Anytime you want to use his physical, opt for
Zantetsuken or Kazekiri, since those at least allow him something
special to occur.
-Keep Cyan in back row until you get Kazekiri for that matter; Kazekiri
gives Cyan a reason to use his physical, any other weapon outside of
Zantetsuken does not.
-Even though those Masamunes and Murakumos look nice, they're better
spent at the coliseum for more Holy Lances for Edgar or Mog to make use
of (or as throwing ammunition for Shadow.) Again, they lack any real
useful application over Murasame for Bushidos, and are flat out worse
than Zantetsuken in everyway (weaker and no special effects.)
-For Cyan's WoB armor, give him the Power Sash. Minor loss of defenses
from Golden Armor is worth the boost to Vigor and Speed you get from
it. Twist Headband couldn't hurt either, though I'd suggest he stays
with Green Beret or Priest�s Miter for the defensive edges they give
being more significant than Twist Headband's offenses.
Cyan's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Kazekiri
Murasame
Zantetsuken
Mutsunokami
Zanmato
Impartisan
Helmets:
Priest's Miter
Circlet
Red Cap
Genji Helm
Green Beret
Saucer
Armor:
Genji Armor
Force Armor
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
End Game Cyan Set Ups:
Undefined Generic Set Up:
Zanmato
Aegis Shield/Thunder Shield/Genji Shield
Red Cap/Genji Helm
Genji Armor/Force Armor
Remember what I said about Locke's Lightbringer without perfect evasion
set up? Well, same logic applies here. Cyan lacks any real specific
set ups, and now that Magic Evasion is no long universal evasion stat it
use to be, its harder to make a call between Force Armor and Genji Armor,
or the shields. Basically, it depends what you want. Again, rather than
telling you what to use, I�ll just say try to think of the set up as a
whole and consider what equip compliments each other, if you want this to
be effective.
He's still no Wind God though:
Kazekiri
Kazekiri
Genji Helm/Circlet
Genji Armor
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
While I personally don't like this set up (mostly cause it gives up
your only Master's Scroll before Soul shrine), this is Cyan's best set
up for beating random encounters probably. Genji Helm vs. Circlet is
there for if you want more defenses or if you want more damage (Cyan
would really like that +4 Magic Power.) Anyway, this set up means
you'll get 4 Wind Slashes on average; that's effectively a 192 spell
power attack being tossed each turn, though it is unreliable and
totally screwed by Wind Immunity/Absorption. This set up also has
a flaw of needing front row (the Wind Slashes DO get halved in back
row), and it kills the use of Bushidos since Master's Scroll halves
their damage, sadly, and since it uses both Relic slots as well as
running off Cyan�s Game Worst Magic Power, him opting for Magic as a
reliable back up doesn�t quite cut it.
If you don't understand the name, its a reference to an old set up
involving Gau with a Merit Award (That sadly doesn't work in this
version) <_<
He's no Wind God mark II:
Kazekiri
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield
Genji Helm/Circlet
Genji Armor
Master's Scroll
Similar to the above, except in this set up, Cyan's trading damage for
the ability to take a damned hit. This set up probably works nicely
with a Black Belt, mind, but wasn't sure if that was worth calling
default, as you may prefer a different filler relic.
Miscellaneous Info on Cyan:
-Psycho Cyan Glitch! Basically, this makes Cyan attack an unlimited
amount of times due to some combination of glitches; before you say
anything, people tend to throw this out for Cyan's worth cause its no
better than abusing that old Vanish/Doom glitch. In any event, the way
it works is you kill Cyan, revive him, have him cast Sky, then Imp him.
He'll counter any physical, be it yours or the enemies, by attacking a
limitless amount of times.
-Not many people realize this, but Cyan gets a weapon at the end of the
"Cyan's Soul" sequence. That weapon is the "Masamune." Should be good,
having to go through an entire sequence to get it, and that the game
makes it look great and such, right? Especially since it�s the Masamune
in an FF game? Actually, the weapon is below the Murakumo in power
(yes, that weapon you get simply by beating Red Dragon), and thus
inferior in everyway (in fact, betting Masamune at Coliseum gives you a
Murakumo.) Talk about a massive disappointment.
-I know I've said it a few times before, but I need to emphasize this
fact; DO NOT GIVE CYAN THE MASTER'S SCROLL IF YOU PLAN ON USING
BUSHIDOS. At least, the physical ones. Master's Scroll halves ALL
physical damage a character has, including stuff it doesn't effect
directly. So this counts for attacks like Fang and Flurry, which is
not something you want to take advantage of. Its quite depressing
considering a lot of old strategies that suggested �Genji Glove +
Offering� for the SNES version use to single Cyan out as a good candidate
for that cause he�s a �Strong Fighter�.
-You're probably wondering how Valor would make Cyan a stronger
character, since tripling Tempest's Damage would make breaking 9999
matter, right? Not quite. Valor only affects the next physical HIT, as
in, only the first hit of multi-hit attacks gets tripled. So if Cyan
was doing 8000 damage total with Tempest, meaning 2000 a hit, only the
first hit would be boosted to 6000, and the other 3 would do 2000,
meaning you do 12000 total, instead of the expected 24000.
-Do NOT attempt the famous Dragoon Combo with Cyan using Kazekiri. It
sounds nice and a decent alternative to Master's Scroll for Wind
Slashes, however, there is a bug associated with it. If Cyan uses Wind
Slash on anything but his LAST hit of jump, it'll be used on the rest
of the actions (due to a different bug that WOULD be beneficial),
however Cyan won't come down, and become "Invisible" thus he can't be
seen or manually targeted. However, you can't perform actions with him
either, so really, you just kind of lost a character permanently.
Avoid if possible.
Skill set:
Cyan's skill set is learned through levels. HOWEVER, after you beat
Cyan's Soul, Cyan learns ALL Bushidos at once, regardless of level.
Sword tech's listed in order of level. So first one is level 1, 2nd is
level 2, all the way to level 8.
Fang:
Obtained at Level 1
Effects: Physical damage to one foe
Comments: Probably most useful Bushido in general, only cause it's to-go.
Beats his fight command for raw damage pretty much always, unless Genji
Glove and/or Master�s Scroll is involved, late game.
Sky:
Obtained at level 6
Effects: Puts Cyan into a counter mode, of sorts. When hit with a
physical attack, he counters with a non-elemental magic attack
Comments: Great damage early on, but a bit hard to trigger being a
counter only. Later in the game, though, Fang out damages it (you
heard me), and given its not exactly an insured trigger, its not a
particularly good move. You could use a Knight�s Code to help trigger
this more, but again, you�re often better off just using Fang.
Tiger:
Obtained at level 12
Effects: Deals damage equal to 50% of enemies HP, adds Seizure Status
Comments: Not particularly useful. Bosses tend to be immune to it, and
Dispatch tends to kill enemies anyway making Gravity pointless. Late in
the game, when doing half damage is more than Dispatch, these enemies
like to be immune to it as well or you�re better off just casting some
Instant Death spell, which hits all the same enemies with a better effect
and is instant.
Flurry:
Obtained at level 15
Effects: Attacks random enemies with 4 separate attacks.
Comments: Not bad on damage, though, this is the first move where the
charge times start actually becoming apparent. Also note that unlike
Fang, this does not ignore defense, so it's worthless on a high defense
enemy (like those in the Magitek Factory.) Probably the last Bushido
that's actually worth the wait, all things considered.
Dragon:
Obtained at level 24
Effects: Magic damage and MP damage to one foe, heals Cyan for an
amount equal to the damage done, both HP and MP wise, restricted by
Cyan's Max Hp and MP.
Comments: Not particularly useful, really. Drain and Osmose more or
less do the same thing, this move just puts them into one attack, and
adds an annoying charge time on, and you can't aim it. For the most
part, its easier to use one of those two moves, as rarely you need to
heal BOTH HP and MP. One advantage it has, I suppose, is it ignores
defense, so against the rare enemy it might be better.
Eclipse:
Obtained at level 34
Effects: Non-elemental magic damage to all enemies, randomly inflicts
Stop
Comments: Alright, this is where the Charge times start outweighing the
use. Eclipse is effectively an improved version of Sabin�s Razor Gale on
paper, but the charge times really kill its use (as does Cyan's base
magic score) Not particularly useful, though, if you can get the time up
without killing all enemies and not harming your own team, then by all
means, use it.
Tempest:
Obtained at level 44
Effects: Attacks random enemies with 4 separate attacks. Difference
between this and Quadra Slam is that this Ignores Defense
Comments: The move that Cyan gets a lot of hype over. However, the
charge times really limit the use of this otherwise fine move. Its
about as strong as Phantom Rush, and due to how algorithms work, Hyper
Wrist actually raises its damage decently. Besides that? It's damage
is generally matched with a magic spell hitting a weakness, or Sabin's
Phantom Rush, or Shadow's Throw, or whatever. It's damage, relatively
speaking, is just too low to consider useful, and it loses use on
multiple foes since its likely to spread hits out, let alone has the
chance of hitting the wrong foe several times in a row. Note that if
you have Quick, this should be the move Cyan is using, as its his
strongest move by far.
Oblivion:
Obtained at level 70
Effects: Instant Death to all enemies, dicing style (ala Odin, for
example)
Comments: WAAAAY too long a charge time to consider this useful. With
things like Banish, and Odin/Raiden around, you're better off just
using those, and enemies will die, for MP cost instead of an annoying
Charge time. Likely the most useless Bushido, as unlike Tiger, it
takes a while to build up, and unlike the others, there are very easy
ways to mimic this through Magic.
Ending Thought:
Cyan�s Hype comes from two areas. One camp is all about the �over 9999
without a relic slot!� and the other is �Kazekiri pwnage!!1!� In truth?
Neither is all they�re cracked up to be, and combined with Cyan�s game
worst Magic Power, and iffy equipment selection, he doesn�t really came
out to be much of a character. I know some people say he�s still
effective and usable, and to some degree, it�s true! But this is more
that FF6 is an easy game in general, and most characters can be made
effective through this; Cyan�s relative worth is clearly not very high,
and there�s a reason many go as far as to call him one of the worst
characters in the game.
========
| SHADOW |
========
#Assassin#
Extra HP: 51
Extra MP: 6
Vigor: 39
Speed: 38
Stamina: 30
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 23
Defense: 47
Evasion: 28%
Magic Defense: 25
Magic Evasion: 9%
Level Readjustment: +0
Desperation: Shadow Fang
Special ability: Throw
Effects: Shadow chooses from a list of "Throw able" weapons. Throwing
one weapon causes permanent loss of the item. When a weapon is used in
this manner, its damage is doubled, and it ignores defense, evade, all
other factors but elemental affinities are ignored. When throwing
scrolls, the affect is based on the scroll itself, and it ignores
normal Throw aspects.
Miscellaneous extra for Shadow:
Interceptor (aka Dog Block): Anytime a "basic physical" is used on
Shadow, blockable or not, there is a 50% chance Shadow will dodge it,
via Interceptor. The block can trigger any evade animation, however,
so this might be credited to the shield or weapon, despite Interceptor
being the reason. When the Dog Block animation occurs, there's a 50%
chance of him countering with Wild Fang or Take Down (equal chance of
both), both attacks being magical and unable to hit flying enemies.
Status is active on Shadow the entire game unless it�s on the Floating
Continent, or he is hit with Rippler.
Character Analysis:
Every Final Fantasy game has their Ninja, and...ok, fine, NOT every
Final Fantasy game has their ninja, as I'm aware about half the series
is lacking in that department, but that's got nothing to do with this!
Stop nitpicking ;_;. Anyway, Shadow is indeed the ninja of FF6,
sporting the usual good physical stats, high speed, and high evade.
What he has that most Ninjas don't though is a competent magic score,
in that its middling instead of lower end. This makes Shadow a well
rounded character.
Shadow's main thing he has going for him is Throw. Its got damage
similar to Blitz, and can be targeted like Tools. This is to say, its
pretty damn sweet, since it has no real downsides while stays good
throughout the entire game. It also adds in two Physical Immunity
options with Shadow Scroll and Invisibility Scroll, cause apparently
28% Base Evasion, evade boosting equipment and Interceptor weren't
enough. Well, Throw has a downside in that you lose whatever you hit
the enemy with, but you could always not throw the rare stuff.
Shurikens, and later on Fuma Shurikens, are dirt cheap and can be
bought in a bulk of 99 right when they're first available. Shadow can
also use this to hit every elemental weakness in the game so his boss
damage can jump quite a bit, though elemental weapons (since they're
actual weapons and not just Throw ammunition) cost a bundle.
Basically, Shadow is a character who almost never has a reason to use
his physical, so he can work with a pure defensive weapon if he wants.
So what of Shadow's equipment? His Armor options are a bit lagging,
sadly. His armor is effectively Locke without a few options, most
notable being the lack of Force Armor. His weapons, now, aren't half
bad. Unlike Sabin and Cyan, two characters who often never use their
physical, Shadow can actually take advantage of his "useless Fight"
command, in that he can focus on weapons that are purely passive on stat
boosts. For example, early on he gets the Thief Knife which is 10% to
both evasion stats and+3 to Speed; this is better than anything what Cyan
gets for most of the game, and unlike Locke, he sacrifices nothing in
return. He also gets a few other nice options along the way like
Swordbreaker or the Assassin's Dagger. This keeps him as a nice evasive
tank to physicals, without hindering his offenses at all.
So what's Shadow's flaw then? For starters, his utter lack
of...well...existence in the WoB. Sure, he's useful when you first get
him, but then he leaves at the Barren Falls, at the latest (possibly
earlier if the game doesn't like you.) The next time he's available you
have to pay him for his services, a four digit price too when that's
still kind of pricey, and he can leave whenever he wants after battle.
Third time he's barely with you, so it�s really not until the Floating
Continent (and thus, the World of Ruin) that Shadow can be made full
use of. Sure, he's nice on the Phantom Train, but that dungeon is
fairly weak in general, and he doesn't really stand out compared to
Sabin and Cyan anyway (they all kill things in one hit, Shadow just has
better speed and targeting, but needs to use items, if dirt cheap ones)
Also, this has the side effect of him not knowing any magic on the FC
(Well, you can give him some earlier, but that requires going out of your
way), which hurts his use some, though you can teach it to him pretty
quickly there at least. Similarly, his Esper time is pretty horrid as
well, so his good starting stats get compensated as a result.
It should be clear that Shadow likes the evade bug being fixed, given
the 28% Base Evasion and how all those evasion boosting equips (most
notably Swordbreaker) suddenly have a purpose. Furthermore, proof he
likes this version of the game is his Dragon's Den weapon, the
Oborozuki, is actually pretty good. Raising all the important stats he
wants, and then giving a slight Magic Evasion bonus, its definitely one
of the best of the new weapons in the game.
All things considered, Shadow is a well rounded character. He's
certainly not top tier, but considering his damage always solid, he's
got decent stats and weapons, passable (though unremarkable) armor
options, and he can even target his damage to boot, which is something
most damage specials cannot. He's got his flaws, but for the most
part, he covers his bases enough, its only a pity you couldn't use him
more in the first half of the game. His magic isn't as bad as you'd
expect too, though don't expect to see me hyping it as special either.
Strategies for Shadow throughout the game:
-This might sound odd, but when Shadow first joins, take off his armor,
and give it to Sabin, and vice versa. I know Kenpo Gi < Ninja Gear,
but the fact is that Shadow is a temporary character, and Sabin is not;
Shadow can do just fine with a weaker armor anyway thanks to Interceptor
and his evade covering most physicals.
-From the traveling merchant, buy 99 Shurikens right off the bat.
Shurikens are cheap, and its worth it to insure Shadow always has good
ammo. You can continually restock on the Phantom Train from merchant
ghosts, mind, should you run out (...and you shouldn't...) It couldn't
hurt to buy some scrolls as well, and if you want, use an Invisibility
Scroll and watch as Shadow single handedly takes down the entire
Imperial Camp with the exception of the Satellite from the Monster in
the Box (which Shadow Scroll SHOULD cover for the most part as well.)
-Do NOT buy Shadow when you get the chance in Kohlingen. Zozo is not a
place to take lightly, and you don't want to suddenly have Shadow leave
you there midway, even if he is pretty good there. If it�s after Zozo?
Well, Shadow will leave in the middle of the Opera, which means you
practically get no use out of him; and by �middle� I mean �before Ultros�
shenanigans start.�
-Giving Shadow Seraphim is probably the first thing he should bother
with. He doesn't need any offensive magic early in the game, since
Throw is sufficient on offense (especially when you factor Scrolls are
flat out better than Ara spells ANYWAY), so you might as well stick
with getting him some healing magic.
-Speaking of Scrolls, if you can afford some, get some scrolls for
Shadow before starting the Floating Continent; they are pretty powerful
for the time, and worth spending some money on, especially if you're
into Veldt Grinding for the purpose of getting Gau some rages, in which
case, you'll have plenty of cash to spend on Throwing Ammunition.
Also, around this time, stocking up on Sakuras, since this is the only
part of the game those are available, and they're the best weapon
Shadow can use for Wind Elemental Ammunition by far (and wind is a
rarish element to boot). Also, if you want Shadow�s best Throw damage,
Darts would be that weapon, though it is kind of pricey, and probably
better to just stick with Shurikens as those would last you. Or you
could use those Sakuras I told you to buy if you want, as they're
slightly weaker, but MUCH cheaper than Darts.
-Shadow should always be using weapons that boost stats. In the WoB,
these would be Thief's Knife (+10% to both evades, +3 Speed, added
bonus of random Stealing, if you're into that), and Assassin's Dagger
(+10% Evasion, +3 Speed, +2 Magic Power, randomly inflicts instant death
with physical.) WoR, its probably best to keep Shadow with a
Swordbreaker for the most part, as the evasion that gives is
more useful than what most other weapons yield, barring maybe Thief
Knife�s Magic Evasion boost.
-In the WoR, Shadow can get a plethora of nice elemental weapons to
throw at enemies, and abuse just about any weakness in the game
(besides Wind, which I said earlier, requires Sakuras.) Getting a
decent stock of these never hurts. Similarly, this would be the time
Shurikens start falling behind sadly, however, at the same time, Fuma
Shurikens are store-bought, and are relatively cheap, so stocking up
on 99 of those should be a priority if you're using Shadow. Falchions
are another good thing to stock up on; they're considerably stronger
than Fuma Shurikens, but much more expensive, so keep on eye on your
Gil.
-If you don't mind taking the time, stealing Impartisans from Greater
Mantis' is the best way to use Throw. See, Throw ignores special
aspects of weapons, this includes the whole "Need to be an Imp to use
this Attack!" aspect Impartisans have, so when thrown, they
actually use their listed Attack of 253! This is MUCH stronger
than anything else Shadow can throw, which he can reasonably stock up on
in bulk. Its time consuming, but if you can snag a bunch of these, it'll
be worth it.
-If Falchions are too expensive, and Impartisans are too annoying to
get, you could always try to stock up on Pinwheels at the Coliseum.
Betting a Fuma Shuriken yields a Pinwheel, for beating up a fairly easy
enemy in Chaos Dragon. This is still kind of time consuming, but its
much cheaper (expenses wise) than Falchions (and stronger to boot), and
somewhat faster than hording Impartisans, call it the balance of the
two.
Shadow's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Thief's Knife
Assassin's Dagger
Kagenui
Ichigeki
Oborozuki
Swordbreaker
Impartisan
Helmets:
Red Cap
Priest's Miter
Circlet
Genji Helm
Green Beret
Saucer
Armor:
Genji Armor
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
Standard Generic Shadow Set Up without a Witty Name:
Oborozuki
Aegis Shield/Thunder Shield
Green Beret
Genji Armor
This set up gives Shadow 108% Evasion (out of 128%, remember) before
any Relics, which is to say, he's pretty much set on the physical side.
Magic...Green Beret was tossed on cause it gives him that slight HP
boost while still supporting the evasion. I chose not to include Genji
Shield here because Shadow does not need anymore physical defense,
hence he'd rather focus on his magic durability, or elemental
resistance. Nice strong set up that doesn't require any relics, granted
it does require Dragon's Den, though Swordbreaker makes a decent
substitute before then.
Just Like a Final Fantasy Ninja:
Oborozuki
Oborozuki
Red Cap/Priest's Miter
Genji Armor
Genji Glove
Gives Shadow 128% Evasion and keeps a relic slot open. Pretty nifty,
though getting two Oborozuki's isn't the easiest of things (requires
giving up a Zwill Crossblade at the coliseum) This set up has some flaws
in that Shadow is practically defenseless on the magic defense end,
outside of the 20% Magic Evasion his weapons combined give him, hence why
he'll need to rely on Red Cap's HP boost or Priest's Miter's Magic
Evasion as well. I'm personally more a fan of giving him a shield,
sacrificing that bit of evade, and letting a combination of high Evasion
and Interceptor cover most hits, but if you like the Genji Glove, this
would be the set up Shadow would use with it.
And now to mimic Blade Grasp:
Oborozuki
Tortoise Shield
Red Cap
Genji Armor
Prayer Beads
The defense is no worse than the above set up, however, the magic
defense and Magic Evasion is MUCH higher, as well as canceling Water as
a bonus. You lose out on 7 Speed and Strength though. This might be
more practical due to the overall better defenses on the magic end
(when you have 128% Evasion, you don't care about defense much,
especially when Interceptor can cover your backside in Surrounded
attacks), so feel free to opt for this set up instead.
Umm...That Aint Right:
Lightbringer
Paladin's Shield
Green Beret
Force Armor
Merit Award
Normally, I am not a fan of Merit Award set ups, however, in this case,
I'm willing to make an exception. The reason is that, for once, Shadow
actually has unique use of one in a manner no one else does. Shadow is
the *ONLY* character in the game who can get perfect Evasion and Magic
Evasion and still have a relic slot open. Why does this work? First
off, he breaks a Magic Evasion benchmark (every x8% = One Benchmark, so
8%, 18%, etc.), AND he breaks *3* Evasion benchmarks. This means he
doesn't need either the Prayer Beads OR the Zephyr's Cloak. As such,
Shadow can use that last relic slot for whatever he wants, without
sacrificing anything defensively. Flaw of this set up? It uses that
lone Paladin's Shield, so it could hurt the overall set up of your team
in specific circumstances. Because of the free Relic slot, though, you
COULD use Genji Glove and give him a second Lightbringer (or heck, Save
the Queen in the second hand would suffice), and still max out both
evasions, though that sort of defeats the purpose of 128/128 Evasions
with a free Relic Slot.
Unorthodox use of Equipment?Ninja Style:
Oborozuki
Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
Prayer Beads
Most effective version of this set up yet, due to the weapon of choice
not being Lightbringer (yes, I'm aware that weapon is infinitely
better) and how Shadow doesn't use his Fight command or rely on major
offensive stats. Shadow caps his evasion, and doesn't even require
Lightbringer to pull this off. Ok, there's less Magic Evasion, but
still, you get the point by now. Perfect evasion with a bunch of high
magic defense stuff yields a nice tank. Again, something unintuitive,
but should prove effective.
Miscellaneous Info about Shadow:
-Remember that Shadow CAN be turned into a makeshift Thief with the
Thief�s Knife, due to its random �Mug� aspect. No, he�s not exactly
reliable at it, and he�s nowhere near as effective as Locke and Gogo,
cause not only is it random, but lacks Thief�s Bracer too. You can,
however, should you get a second Thief�s Knife, use Genji Glove to up the
steal rate some, by giving him 2 chances per attack to initiate the
random Mug effect (ups the rare to 75% chance of using at least one Mug a
turn, instead of 50%, in case you don�t wanna do the math), and to
increase the number of attempts at stealing per turn, a Black Belt can
aid there, as each counter attack Shadow uses is another chance for him
to attempt a steal. This all applies to Locke as well, of course, but
its probably just easier to give him a Thief�s Bracer and use Steal
outright, though Thief�s Knife + Black Belt combo would give him an extra
random chance to Steal each turn, while still keeping that Thief�s Bracer
so that might not be a bad idea, if stealing is your thing.
-Most people know this, but anyway, I'll say it still. Sleep at an inn
with Shadow in your team, and there's a chance you might see a scene.
This scene is Shadow's dream, and a part of Shadow's past. There are
four dreams seen this way (NOT 7) Should you lose count, the last
Dream Shadow has is one where he's in Thamasa.
-Also common knowledge, but should be pointed out. On the floating
Continent, do NOT leave without waiting for Shadow. If you leave,
something will happen and he'll be gone for good. Instead, get there,
choose "Wait", and when the clock hits "0:05", Shadow will come, and
all is well :)
-If you are wondering, you can get a 5th Dream by just getting Shadow
in the WoR. This dream, unlike the others, always happens in the same
place (right after you beat King Behemoth), and it doesn't matter WHICH
dreams you've seen or not, they'll always appear.
-Shadow does not have interceptor on the FC. He�ll get him back in the
WoR, though, so don�t worry.
-NEVER let Shadow get hit with Rippler. Or if he is, hope Strago/Gogo
is in your team and let them Rippler the enemy. Shadow getting
Ripplered loses Interceptor PERMANATLY. Having another ally rippler
interceptor will get him back, maybe not on the right character, but
hey, he's back! To give him back to Shadow, just have Shadow in a team
with a Rippler user, and have him confuse them just before they use
Rippler (IE have Shadow cast Confuse, before Shadow casts Confuse, tell
them to cast Rippler, but make sure Shadow's spell comes off first, and
only AFTER the Command to use Rippler was issued)
-Shadow has a unique Relic (well, shares it with one person; that
person should be obvious because they come EQUIPPED with it) in the
Memento Ring, which is functionally identical to the Safety Bit. This
is handy as Safety Bits aren't the easiest things to come across, so an
advantage to using Shadow is sort of like adding an extra Safety Bit to
your options, which is never a bad thing.
-Shadow will never use Throw in the Coliseum. This can be a good
thing, since it means if you were careful about what magic you taught
him, he can win fights without you worrying about stupid actions. Its
also good because he won't, say, throw that nice Lightbringer you got
out of idiotic AI either.
Skill set:
Shadow's Throw skill set can throw many weapons. It�s hard to evaluate
ALL of them, though, I'll mention the "Throw Only" abilities, those being
the Shurikens and the Scrolls.
Shuriken:
Bought at various shops
Effect: Physical damage to one foe.
Comments: Cheap, efficient, and easy to find. The damage is too good
for just 30 GP, and it has no flaws. Shadow�s Work Horse weapon for the
WoB, when he�s available. Stock up on lots of these.
Fuma Shuriken:
Bought at various shops
Effect: Physical damage to one foe.
Comments: The WoR's answer to the Shuriken, more or less. This is
better in everyway, just a more expensive, but still easy to horde lots
of given later in the game, you have more money. Good default source of
damage for Shadow.
Pinwheel:
Gotten in a few chests around the WoR, and through betting a Fuma
Shuriken at the Coliseum
Effects: Physical damage to one foe
Comments: The "Ultimate" Star weapon. This would be good if they
weren't a bit of a pain to get lots of. Yes, its easy enough, but
probably not worth your time, better to just buy some Falchions, or nab
some Impartisans, and use those instead. As I said before, this is kind
of the middle ground of the two.
Shadow Scroll:
Bought at various shops
Effects: Adds Image status to the user
Comments: Nifty little trick. More fun than useful, likely, but it can
still serve some use. Granted, not as useful as it use to be, since
Shadow has lots of evade (something evade bug took away), and
Interceptor (always had this, granted), so he's hard enough to hit with
physicals anyway. Admittedly, Gogo can use this too, and makes somewhat
more use of it, so its best use is probably NOT on Shadow.
Invisibility Scroll:
Bought at various shops
Effects: Adds Clear status to the user
Comments: Early on, it's decent. Later, though, you get the Vanish
Spell, which basically makes this ability kind of worthless, and a
waste of money.
Fire Scroll:
Bought at various shops
Effects: Fire Elemental Magic damage to all enemies
Comments: A bit pricey when you first can get these, but for good
reason. This thing kicks ass. It�s your best magic damage in the WoB
as far as consistent attacks go, and does massive damage when hitting
weakness. Think of this as a Level 2.5 for damage (Better than an Ara
spell, but worse than an Aga) If you can afford these, stock up on
lots of these early, they are quite nice.
Water Scroll:
Bought at various shops
Effects: Water Elemental Magic damage to all enemies
Comments: Water version of the Fire Scroll. Do note that the new Flood
spell taught by the new esper Leviathan is identical to this in
everyway, for how the spells work anyway, so not as useful as it use to
be.
Lightning Scroll:
Bought at various shops
Effects: Lighting elemental Magic Damage to all.
Comments: Lightning version of the above two. Probably best Lightning
damage you'll get until Thundaga, at least for groups.
Ending Thought:
Shadow is a fine well-balanced character. Throw gives him good damage
the entire game, and he can serve as a passable back up mage should the
time be needed (though there are probably better options for this one).
Some interesting equipment options in weapons give him some variety, as
well as being able to hit every elemental weakness in the game fairly
easily. I hate to say this (cause its so controversial), but the more I
think about it, the more Shadow just strikes me as an improved Sabin,
even his damage is a little worse, the ability to target it (and probably
better against bosses due to the elemental thing) gives him the edge.
=======
| Edgar |
=======
#Machinist#
Extra HP: 49
Extra MP: 6
Strength: 39
Speed: 30
Stamina: 34
Magic Power: 29
Attack: 20
Defense: 50
Evasion: 4%
Magic Defense: 22
Magic Evasion: 1%
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: Royal Shock
Special ability: Tools
Effects: Selects a Tool from a list of ones that are in your current
Inventory. Only one Tool of that type is needed to use the attack.
Tools can be used indefinitely, with absolutely no penalties or
restrictions.
Character Analysis:
As one of the most respected characters throughout the entire game,
you'd expect Edgar to be good, right? RIGHT? YOU EXPECT HIM TO BE GOOD
AND YOU KNOW IT! ...ok, I apologize for that outburst. Anyway,
thankfully, Edgar does not disappoint. While its true gets a bit
more love than he deserves, especially for Tools in later parts of the
game, he's by no means a bad character. Edgar probably falls into this
really odd class of characters who are about as good as they are hyped,
but for reasons completely different to their hype. What do I mean?
Well, as I said only a few sentences ago, people tend to see Edgar and
often immediately think "Tools = Awesome = Edgar R0><0RZ!" or something
(mind the L337 speak >_>;) While this logic works fine for the first
half of the game, Edgar's Tools just kind of stop improving, damage wise
after the Chain Saw, which is gotten in Zozo; sure, there are Air Anchor
and Debilitator, but they're not something you use for damage. That
alone should indicate that Tools are going to go on a decline, and really
they do. Thankfully, though, Edgar has other uses besides Tools!
However, back to the issue of Tools, the good thing about them is that
they do, in fact, dominate the early parts of the game, and remain
solid throughout the rest of the World of Balance. Make no mistake;
Auto Crossbow and Bioblaster are among your best forms of damage when you
first get them, both Single Target and Multitarget, until Sabin arrives.
Even after Sabin arrives, Edgar's still your best form of MT damage until
Gau arrives, and DESPITE then still, Edgar's got the edge of reliability
that Gau never has. To add to that, Noiseblaster just kind of dominates
random encounters, being Multitarget Confusion that cannot fail. Its
pretty clear who the dominant force is through the early game. These
first three tools are all Edgar gets through the Narshe Battle Sequence,
but frankly, they are all he needs for the most part. However, after
Narshe Battle Sequence, some new abilities and equipment start
appearing, like Sabin getting Rising Phoenix making him much better on
MT Damage, or Celes getting the White Dress for a magic boost, what
have you. This doesn't bode well for Edgar...except that he too gets
some new tools! Flash works for Edgar to keep his MT damage up, even if
not the same relative dominance of the Auto Crossbow, its serviceable
enough, and being magical, gets you through the Magitek Factory at very
least. Drill, and the soon to come Chain Saw, make Edgar have good
consistent Single Target damage as well, which unlike Aura Cannon and
Fang, can even be targeted, which comes in handy against multipart bosses
like the Cranes. The fact that they ignore defense makes them even more
useful too, since you are about to go into a high defense area.
Tools start having a noticeable decline around the time Terra rejoins.
This isn't strictly cause its Terra, mind, but because of what's
available around that time, which she also just happens to take advantage
of. Ara class spells and Bio are now much easier to get (Ifrit, Shiva,
Maduin and Catoblepas primarily), and you get Mog soon who just rips
apart stuff with Dances this early, to give you a few ideas. Granted,
Edgar still remains a solid enough character, he's just making a sort of
noticeable decline at this point. It doesn't help that he can't use the
Gaia Gear, though he makes up for this some by being able to use the
Golden Shield, when most other characters are stuck with Mythril Shield.
Then comes the World of Ruin. It�s about now that Tools stop being
dominant. They'll last Edgar a while, but there's definitely a point
where they just stop being adequate enough. For example, Drill is
Edgar's best consistent damage (Chain Saw can randomly use an Instant
Death version), and that is completely outclassed by Shadow's
Shurikens, which actually matter now that Shadow is a normal character
and not an unstable Temp. Doesn't help that Shadow has an upgrade in
Fuma Shurikens, AND how Scrolls out damage Flash (let alone when they hit
weakness). What does Edgar get in terms of Tools? The relatively
pointless Debilitator, and the even less useful Air Anchor. OUCH! Looks
like Edgar's big skill set that lasted him the entire first half of the
game just got beaten with a massive nerf stick. Is there any hope for
Edgar in the second half of the game?
As a matter of fact, there is! Edgar is one of the only characters in
the game who can use Spears (excluding the Impartisan), which means he
makes a fine Dragoon Character. Dragoon set up wasn't really worth
much early in the game, since Drill > Jump, and Dragon Horn didn't
exist, not to mention Spears weren't that good. However, Edgar can now
use stronger weapons (Holy Lance comes to mind, which can be gotten
fairly early to boot), and the Dragon Horn suddenly makes those
relatively useless Dragoon Boots something not to be ignored. This
combo keeps Edgar at least a workable character through the rest of the
game.
So what of his Non-spear Equipment? Edgar happens to be one of the
four natural Lightbringer users! That alone is worth mentioning. He's
got most of the same stuff Locke gets on armor, though misses out on
Gaia Gear and Power Sash early game, but gains the better store-bought
shields in the higher end store-bought shields, and gets a few other
equips in the Royal Crown and Red Jacket (neither of which are that
useful, but they're there.) He can also use the Enhancer, so this
salvages his lowish magic stat some, making him a potential secondary
mage if you need him for that. I'll be honest though; Edgar's use mainly
comes from the Dragoon Set Up, as without that, he ends up being an
inferior clone of Terra and Celes, who can use all the same noteworthy
equips he gets otherwise, except they get female specifics like Minerva
Bustier instead of Red Jacket and Royal Crown (LOSING TRADE, in Edgar�s
case), MUCH better Dragon's Den weapons, and have higher Magic Stats
which matters a lot more than Tools does later on (also roughly equal
Esper Time, so Edgar doesn�t have time to catch up). Basically, Dragoon
Set Up is what keeps Edgar at least unique compared to those two, though
in an area like Dragon's Den or Kefka's Tower, you can't use both in
every team, it might not hurt to use Edgar in the same vain as those two
if you need to shift around roles or something, as he�s a decent
supplement to those two.
Edgar, like most Force Armor users, isn't a fan of some of the changes
in FF6a. Enhancer went from "fairly godly store-bought weapon" to just
merely solid, and Force Armor got considerably worse, due to Magic
Evasion no longer being worse. Furthermore, his new weapon in Longinus
is in running for the worst of all the new equips. I know you're
thinking "A new spear for Edgar, better stats than anything else he can
use? How can that not be useful?" There's a good reason its not useful,
but I'll get into that later. But onto�
Strategies for Edgar throughout the game:
-Shove Edgar in the back row. There's no reason to keep him in the
front row, as Tools, Jump AND Lightbringer all ignore the back row.
-If for whatever reason Edgar's weapons matter early game (and they
shouldn't), you can get a nice free Mythril Spear for him by stripping
Mog of his equipment during the "Save Terra!" sequence, and give that
to Edgar. Naturally, that Mythril Sword Edgar COMES with should be
given to Locke, since he needs his physical more than the other two
(Edgar has Tools, Terra has Magic)
-Speaking of Weapons, never use Edgar's Fight command in the WoB...or
heck, never use it unless he's equipped with Lightbringer or Fight
happens to be labeled "Jump." Tools are pretty much always the better
option, especially early on.
-Giving Edgar those Hermes Sandals, Gigas Glove and/or Hyper Wrist
early on you get in South Figaro and Mt. Kolts is a good way to
optimize his offensive worth. Granted, Locke also wants those so his
damage lags less, though Hermes Sandals should be given to Edgar
regardless, since boosting his speed is most important.
-Bioblaster is your best friend in the Narshe Battle Sequence. It will
one hit kill whole groups of Corporals, which has the side effect of
causing the Hunting Hound they sometimes come with to run. The Heavy
Armor and Fidor won't die, but they still take good damage, and
typically aren't threatening by themselves anyway (especially if you
were smart and paired Edgar with either Terra or Celes, for healing
support.)
-Rune Blade is a good weapon to give Edgar at this point (assuming you
grab it now, rather than waiting for it to �turn� into a Ribbon in the
WoR). Since he never is using his physical, the 10% Evasion will benefit
him more than any other weapon. Especially after Narshe Battle Sequence
where Celes probably prefers a Chain Flail which does more damage in the
Back Row anyway without expending MP.
-Don't forget to nab the Drill and Flash when you go through Figaro
again! We don't want Edgar falling behind now do we? This also
applies to getting the Chain Saw in Zozo.
-Its probably a good idea to give Edgar that Hero's Ring you got from
the Future Coliseum. Edgar's damage is good on both ends, instead of
being primarily magical (like Celes or Sabin) or primarily physical
(like Cyan.) This will boost both Drill/Chain Saw and Flash, which will
help you out somewhat in the Magitek Factory when you want to optimize
both Edgar's Single Target and Multi-target damage.
-At this point, I think its pretty clear that until somewhere in the
World of Ruin, Edgar's strategy should consist of "Spam Drill, Chain
Saw, and Flash" for his most effective use in general. So I'll just
say that, and move onto the next point which is much later in the game!
-Naturally, Edgar should take priority in learning defensive spells (like
Healing) in the WoB, since he doesn�t need the offensive push from magic.
Not that having side options for damage hurt of course; after all, Edgar
casting an Ara on something weak to it can very well out damage
Drill/Chain Saw, just saying it shouldn�t be his PRIORITY.
-Dragoon Set Up. Take advantage of this as soon as you can get the
items (Coliseum guides can help with this.) The main items you want
are Dragoon Boots (which are store-bought, at very worst), Dragon Horn
and Holy Lance to get the combo started.
-Unless of course you�re using Edgar as a Mage of sorts, in which case,
give him at least Enhancer, and just keep his Magic built up. Again,
though, as I noted before, Edgar as a mage is resigning him to a
generally inferior Terra/Celes, of course�
-You could hand him Lightbringer and just keep him with that, but then,
that weapon is hax. If you want to Genji Glove it, and only have one, I
recommend using Organyx, Man Eater, or Gladius/Excalibur/Holy Lance,
depending on enemy.
-Do NOT use Longinus, under�really any circumstance, especially Dragoon
Set Ups. It looks great at first, but note that unlike other Spears, it
does not grant the same damage bonus with Jump; other spears give 2x
damage, Longinus gives 1.5x damage (same as any other weapon), so it
comes out much worse than Radiant/Holy Lance as a result. Pity, as its
got the perfect stats to be a good Dragoon Weapon too�
Edgar's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Holy Lance
Radiant Lance
Lightbringer
Enhancer
Ultima Weapon
Ragnarok
Longinus
Excalibur
Impartisan
Helmets:
Priest's Hat
Red Cap
Genji Helm
Royal Crown
Circlet
Green Beret
Saucer
Armor:
Force Armor
Genji Armor
Red Jacket
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
Utterly Boring Dragoon Set Up:
Holy Lance/Radiant Lance
Aegis Shield/Genji Shield/Thunder Shield
Red Cap/Genji Helm
Force Armor/Genji Armor
Dragoon Boots
Dragon Horn
As usual, the equipment doesn't have a defined purpose here, so you'll
have to make the call on equipment there based on what you want and
what is available. For Holy Lance vs. Radiant Lance...well, its not
easy to make that call either. Radiant Lance is more reliable, but Holy
Lance (thanks to random Holy castings) has more potential, and is
elemental (which is a double edged sword of course), so which you want
probably depends on enemy and/or playing style.
Set Up of Evil:
Lightbringer
Paladin's Shield
Green Beret
Force Armor
Zephyr's Cloak
Prayer Beads
If you're getting Deja Vu, its because you already saw this set up
twice, once with Terra and once with Locke (well, Locke's was
*SLIGHTLY* different). Basically, the 128% Evasion and Magic Evasion
set up rears its ugly head again, yielding a near un-killable
character. And again, this set up is possible with only one character
due to that Paladin's Shield, so...
Set Up of Evil Mark 2:
Lightbringer
Lightbringer
Green Beret
Force Armor
Genji Glove
Prayer Beads
You can use this one instead as well! A little weaker defensively,
stronger offensively, and there are unlimited Lightbringers while only
one Paladin's Shield, you may choose to opt for this one, assuming you
have the necessary resources and wish to use Edgar like this.
Set Up of Vague Pointlessness:
Lightbringer
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield/Thunder Shield
Genji Helm/Red Cap
Force Armor/Genji Armor
If you don't feel like abusing the hell out of the Lightbringer, but
you DO feel like taking advantage of it on Edgar, this is a pretty
generic set up for it. Why is it vaguely pointless? Mostly cause
Terra and Celes can do the same thing, except they can use Minerva
Bustier instead of two inferior armors Edgar is stuck with. I suggest
only using this if you either have enough Lightbringers to go around,
or if you don't like the Dragoon Set Up, and you are content giving
Terra and Celes their Dragon's Den weapons (or alternatively, they�re not
in the same team as Edgar), yet want Edgar to pull his weight, while not
giving up that Paladin's Shield. Phew that was a mouth full.
Massive Over leveled Damage...the MANLY version:
Ultima Weapon
Ultima Weapon
Red Cap
Genji Armor/Force Armor
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
More or less the same thing as what Terra used, except lacking the
Minerva Bustier (hence why its MANYLY!!!), so its overall weaker.
Basically the set up you use if you want Edgar's damage to be as high
as possible at higher levels, which is to say, this set up really
doesn't do much for you, especially if Edgar's at low HP. Usual Force
Armor vs. Genji Armor thing applies here, naturally.
Slightly less damage, but actual defenses!:
Lightbringer
Ultima Weapon
Red Cap
Genji Armor/Force Armor
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
Pretty much the same thing as what Terra used again, nixing the Minerva
Bustier, again. Worse damage, better defenses, only really use if you
want to make use of the 8 Hit combo that isn't really as great as it
sounds (this is why I die a little each time I post these set ups ;_;.)
Again, I recommend against using the Master's Scroll in a manner like
this, especially since you're likely to get more damage, while keeping
a shield, with the Dragoon Set Up anyway.
Unorthodox use of Equipment:
Lightbringer
Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
Prayer Beads
Prayer Beads
Same thing we saw with Terra and Locke. By now, you should know how it
works; amazing evasion complemented by lots of magic defense. What
applies to Edgar more or less is the same that applied to Terra. Just
note that Edgar is probably the worst user of this set up. For starters,
low Magic Power, barely beating out Locke, so he's going to be less
damaging than Terra (and Celes for that matter) magically, and his
Strength advantage over Terra is barely higher. His magic defense is
significantly worse too, so the Magic Tanking part doesn't kick in as
well, and unlike Locke, he lacks the high base evasion to allow some
flexibility. Mind, this set up is still good, just saying that of the
characters who use this, Edgar is probably ends up worst in practice
when using this, if only technically, compared to the others.
Miscellaneous Stuff regarding Edgar:
-Edgar gets a 50% Discount if he's in the FRONT of your party at Figaro
shops (IE his sprite is the one being shown), for obvious reasons. The
game will give the same dialogue if he's in your team, but the discount
won't occur (maybe cause they have less respect for him following the
orders of someone else? Who knows.) Something to take advantage of when
you want normal store-bought items (like Hi Potions and such) which can
be bought anywhere.
-More interesting, in South Figaro, in the WoR, Edgar also gets the
discount, but the game never even hints you are getting one. Just have
Edgar talk to the guys, and someone else, and notice the price
difference. You'll be pleasantly surprised :) Doesn't work in South
Figaro when you first get there, unfortunately. Useful for stocking up
on Tridents for Shadow or something.
-For reasons unknown, and quite arbitrarily, after Terra speaks to
Edgar for the first time, an Auto Crossbow gets added to your inventory
for free. This means if you think you are slick in buying an Auto
Crossbow before talking to Edgar, all you did was waste money, as you
are about to get one anyway. Quite nice how the game outright hands
one to you, possibly so Edgar always has at least ONE option for Tools
(you'll note that Noiseblaster and Bio Blaster are store-bought in
South Figaro, but not Auto Crossbow.) Note that when I say �reasons
unknown� I don�t mean �this is a weird bug�, it�s more just �why did the
programmers do that? And why didn�t they give us an indication of that?�
-Edgar is one of the only characters forced into your team in the WoR,
so whether you like it or not, you're getting him! This also means he
gets some extra Esper time, which can be taken advantage of.
-Common knowledge by now, but if you have Edgar sleep at Figaro with
Sabin in your team, you can trigger a scene with both characters
explaining their past, and the usual resolve happens (though in this
version of the game, the music keeps playing instead of dramatic
silence in the last scene, odd...)
-Also, if Edgar and Locke are in your team when you do Gau's Father
sequence, you'll get an extra bit of dialogue (and extra bit of Gau
makeover) in that sequence for added humor.
-If you did not recruit Sabin in the WoR, Edgar�s ending scene (which he
shares with Sabin) will be changed to compensate for the lack of Sabin.
Skill set:
Edgar's skill set, Tools, is based on what Tools he has. There are 8
of them, all with unique abilities. I'll list what they do, and how to
get them, generally (meaning not EVERYWAY)
Auto Crossbow:
Obtained at: Figaro Castle, after Terra talks to Edgar, an Auto
Crossbow will be added to your inventory. Can also buy one at the shop
in Figaro
Effects: Physical damage to all foes.
Comments: Great Tool early on. MT damage better than what he has with no
downsides? Yes please!
Bioblaster:
Obtained at: Figaro Castle shop, and the weapon Shop in South Figaro.
Effects: Does Poison Elemental Magic damage to all enemies, inflicts
Poison status
Comments: Interesting alternative to Auto Crossbow. Use it in a
similar manner, and experiment which is better, as its situational. In
most case, this is better against single targets while Auto Crossbow is
better against groups, but this isn�t strictly the case.
Noiseblaster:
Obtained at: Obtained at: Figaro Castle shop, and the weapon Shop in
South Figaro.
Effects: Adds confusion status to all enemies
Comments: Great Tool early on, since this confusion can only fail if
the enemy is immune. That immunity thing tends to start kicking in
later in the game, as well as other nasty status effects start
appearing to be used. Still fun to play around with, and should last you
well into the first half of the game.
Flash:
Obtained at: Figaro Castle, after the Narshe Battle sequence
Effects: Non elemental Magic damage to all
Comments: Replaces Bioblaster and Auto Crossbow for Edgar's MT damage
later on. Decent, though not stellar. Its best use is in the Magitek
Factory, where enemies have high physical defense, this gives you some
crowd control. Not bad, but nothing to go crazy about.
Drill:
Obtained at: Obtained at: Figaro Castle, after the Narshe Battle
sequence
Effects: Non elemental physical damage to one foe
Comments: Great tool when you first get, its definitely one of Edgar's
best. Does high damage, and ignores defenses so the damage is always
good too. One of Edgar's prime sources of offense, at least in the WoB
anyway.
Chain Saw:
Obtained at: Zozo, complete the clock puzzle
Effects: Non elemental physical damage to one foe, 25% of the time, it
instead will be turned into an attack that does no damage and just
inflicts instant death, indicated by animation (its basically 2 attacks
on one tool, a damage version and an instant Death version. The latter
NEVER does damage, for the record. Its hit or miss, like most instant
death)
Comments: Excellent Tool, no mistake. Does the best RAW damage of any
tool, and easily his best option if the enemy is vulnerable to instant
death, as the Drill's one advantage over it is gone. Mind, on bosses,
it�s a bit risky, as any time Edgar uses the Instant Death version,
it�s a wasted turn, you might want to use Drill instead. Regardless,
this is one of Edgar's selling points early on, be sure to take
advantage of it.
Debilitator:
Obtained at: Stealing from one of the Cranes or Air Force in the WoB,
Figaro Castle in the WoR.
Effects: Adds a random weakness from one of the 8 elements in the game.
IF enemy is already weak to an element, it skips that element, and
chooses an element he's not already weak too. Weaknesses dealt by
Debilitator override innate resistances
Comments: Not as useful as it sounds, sadly. This because random
encounters tend to die too fast before you can make full use it (being
single target doesn't help) and most bosses after you get it are weak
to something already, let alone that something being one of the Big 3
(Fire, Ice and Lightning.) Bosses that aren't weak? Edgar is better off
just using his turns for strict offense, rather than making the enemy
weak to a useless element like Earth vs. a Flying enemy or Poison
against like anything. Possibly Edgar's Worst Tool.
Air Anchor:
Obtained at: Secret Room in fanatics tower. Also gained by betting
Genji Armor at the coliseum.
Effect: Gives enemy a "Status" where after their next turn goes, they
die. Note that the death does NOT kick in until AFTER their turn, so
should the enemy kill you on their last turn, its game over. Does some
minor physical damage upon success.
Comments: This tool sounds great. What's more fun than watching
enemies kill themselves, or threatening them with the words "Move and
you're dust?" Well, beyond the novelty factor, how good is this tool?
Well, remember how I ranted about the Debilitator being a bad tool,
possibly his worst? I was wrong. THIS is his worst tool, easily. I
mean, if you wanted to kill something with instant death, wouldn't it
be easier to just cast Death or Banish? That way the enemy dies, and
they don't get a free action. Plus this weapon doesn't work on bosses.
Really, it�s a pitiful, pure novelty Tool, meant to pass off as Edgar's
"Ultimate Tool" when its really rather pathetic.
Ending Thoughts:
Edgar is kind of like FF6's version of a Jeigan, to borrow a term from
Fire Emblem. He starts the game off incredibly brutal and evil, but
slowly declines. Granted, he never actually declines below a certain
level, as he's always a solid character, and works well. Good
character so long as you use him properly, and get out of the mind set
that Tools are godly, since they do eventually decline. Use him to
your hearts desire or something.
=======
| SABIN |
=======
#Monk#
Extra HP: 58
Extra MP: 3
Strength: 47
Speed: 37
Stamina: 39
Magic Power: 28
Attack: 26
Defense: 53
Evasion: 12%
Magic Defense: 21
Magic Evasion: 4%
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: Tiger Break
Special ability: Blitz
Effects: Using this prompts the player to enter a button combo. If
successful, a Blitz is used. Which blitz is determined by what button
sequence is pushed (For example, Left Right Left is Raging Fist) If
Button sequence does not correspond with a Blitz among those already
learned, then it�s a failure. Failures result in no attack, and a
wasted turn.
Character Analysis:
If Shadow is the token Ninja of FF6, Sabin is the token Monk. Except
that Sabin doesn't really work like most other monks for the most part.
You might think that looking at his stats, he's a fighter. Having one
of the highest strength and Attack scores, and one of the lowest
Magic Power scores, he must be a fighter, right?
That would be the problem many people who make Sabin their fighter run
into. Sabin, outside of a short section in the middle of the game where
Burning Fist is the best weapon available, has a fundamental lack of
noteworthy weapons. By this I mean his weapons lack any sort of
special feature to make them good for "Fight" purposes. They also don�t
really stand out in power much either, for that matter. Furthermore,
his Blitzes for the most part are based off Magic Power, NOT Strength
like you'd expect. What this means is that raising Sabin for Strength
is a good example of raising a character the wrong way due to a
stereotype, and not looking at facts and such. Yes, you read that
right; Sabin's Blitzes are often based off his low magic score, which
is why the damage isn't as high as you'd expect from the Spell Powers
of those attacks, assuming you bothered to check the algorithm or attack
guides. Yeah, it�s incredibly unintuitive that the game�s �Monk� is
functionally a mage, but that�s the truth.
This isn't to say Sabin's damage is BAD though. That's pretty much the
one thing he has going for him. Sabin's damage is consistently good
throughout the entire game, with the exception being late WoB and Early
WoR where the Ara class spells come in, as do characters with stronger
attacks (Aqua Breath is a stronger attack, for example, than Aura
Cannon, and it comes on a character with somewhat higher Magic Power),
when Sabin is still relying on moves he had early in the game.
Unfortunately for Sabin though, the damage he has can never be
targeted, which hurts the ST damage, and its also all he has until he
gets Rising Phoenix a bit later on. For this reason, Sabin's high
damage is mostly just coloring, since he tends to one hit kill random
encounters, which most characters not named Locke do anyway, and you
don't fight enough noteworthy (pseudo-)bosses early in the game either
(stuff like Satellite, for example, counters all Blitzes with Megazerk,
which means Sabin can only use one unless you got that lone Ribbon on
him.) By the time the Single Target damage starts mattering (around
Zozo), other characters like Edgar or Gau start become comparable in this
regard. To his credit, he also gets Rising Phoenix around now, so he's
the second best consistent MT Damage dealer you have outside of Edgar.
The first time in the game that Sabin's damage is actually
significantly higher than anyone else's, and during a point when it
matters (as in, there are randoms that can actually take hits now, as
well as actual competent bosses) would be right after you get the
Falcon, when Sabin gets Phantom Rush. This move is, in fact, Sabin's
best damage, and will be your best damage until you get some of the
later game equips like Master�s Scroll, or late game spells like the
Agas. The attack still has the flaw of being unable to be targeted,
granted, which can hurt at times, so its not the be all, end all move
some people make it out to be, but it does keep Sabin's offense up at
least. Razor Gale coming around the same time is nice too for keeping
his Multitarget damage up, as he wasn't going to last forever with Rising
Phoenix after all.
Sabin's big failing would be his equipment though. He's a Magic Power
reliant character who doesn't get a single Magic Boosting equip until
the WoR, where a few things like Circlet and Tiger Fangs appear. Due
to this, he basically must be raised with Esper Boosts to have full
impact, cause his equipment surely isn't salvaging him. His armor
options aren't exactly something to be hyped either. His Best armor,
the Red Jacket, is probably the 2nd worst of the ultimates in the game
(only Gogo's Magus Robe is worse), so Sabin's pretty much a pure cannon
character. He does at least get Gaia Gear for the Floating Continent,
but he wastes some other decent options like the Power Sash due to how
he has little use for his Strength stat. To Sabin�s credit, he is
probably the character with the most Esper time in the game, being
available for all the big points in the WoB (barring Thamasa), and pretty
much the entire WoR, so he does have a lot of time to salvage that Magic
Power stat, which is always a plus.
Sabin ends up being a favorite among new players, cause he is so
straight forward and requires little to no effort to figure out how to
use him, and as a result, they'll even start using and hyping him in
very odd ways (like claim he's a strong defensive fighter based on his
base stats, when his armor more than speaks otherwise.) This leads to
him being one of the most overrated characters in the game. At the
same time, however, players who are a bit more experienced at this game
will automatically hate Sabin cause of all the newbee love he gets, and
start deeming him as one of the worst characters in the game. As such,
Sabin gets over hated and underrated by some people. The end result is
that Sabin is overall an averagish character. He's got points where
he's pretty good (early Post-Falcon era), and points where he kind of
lags, even obsolete possibly (Floating Continent, where his damage
doesn�t stand out at all, and he has nothing to compensate.) He's not
strictly a bad character, but he's not this be all end all character
either, don't fall into either trap.
I will say, though, that one flaw Sabin has is not really bringing much
to the table compared to Gogo or Shadow. Gogo can use Phantom Rush
too, and thanks to Magic Stat Boosts, the low Magic Power is
compensated for, AND he can use a bunch of other nice skill sets as
well (though he has even worse armor in fairness, but better Magic
Evasion...), where as Shadow isn't that far behind on damage
(especially if he's abusing those elemental weaknesses, where he
probably ends up AHEAD), however this damage can be targeted, and he's
better in all ways defensively. This would be one of the reasons Sabin
kind of suffers late game; he just doesn't have anything else to
deliver besides damage, where as other characters have damage not far
from his, and have other things to offer.
So what about Sabin's new weapon, the Godhand? Well, remember how I
said Longinus is merely ONE of the worst weapons in Dragon's Den for
Edgar? Godhand would be the other one. Yielding a very minor boost in
attack and strength over the Tigerfang makes its damage increase
rather minor, and its Holy Elemental, which is a minor quirk at best
(Holy Immunity/Absorption and Weakness are pretty rare; most things
weak are undead anyway, so its kind of moot.) Worse? It doesn't boost
Magic Power, while Tigerfang does, so it�s a worse weapon to use Blitzes
with. Not exactly an interesting weapon in any event, probably
something that should be ultimately viewed as a Trophy, and not much
else unless you REALLY like that Black Belt or something.
Strategies for Sabin throughout the game:
-If its not obvious, it should be. Sabin goes in the back row, like
most characters. Blitzes ignore row, take advantage of this.
-Also, give Sabin a shield cause, well, he doesn't come with one.
Giving him Mog's Mythril Shield wouldn't be a bad idea, since other
characters can use better supplements in the Heavy Shields, while he's
stuck with the Buckler. Also, giving him Shadow's Ninja Gear as I
suggested before isn't a bad idea either.
-Earrings are probably Sabin's best friend. Damage is what he has, and
this raises that, you should have him with one on at most parts, at
least any point after the Narshe Battle Sequence (he can get away
without ones before then, since enemies tend to die to Aura Cannons
anyway.)
-Never bother buying any weapons for Sabin. Blitzes do more damage
anyway, and Zozo gives you a weapon stronger than anything he can buy
for like the rest of the game for free anyway. Similarly, don't bother
giving Sabin any helmet that isn't the Green Beret once you get that.
Twist Headband and Tiger Mask both might look nice, but they're pretty
much meant for physical fighters only, and Sabin doesn't really use
much in physical attacks. The Evasion and HP Boosts the Green Beret
give are definitely better.
-However, due to that strong weapon mentioned above, it might not be a
bad idea to give Sabin a Black Belt; he probably makes most use out of
it compared to other characters, sans maybe Cyan with Kazekiri or Locke
with Hawk Eyes.
-It might not be a bad idea to buy two Poison Claws for Sabin when he
first rejoins in the WoR, as Humbaba reacts pretty violently to that,
so Genji Glove w/ those might be an odd case for Sabin to use those.
Of course, if you don't want to spend the cash, it�s not that big a deal
either.
-When you get the Falcon, getting Phantom Rush should be your #1
Priority regarding Sabin, so go find it and fast!
-Once Sabin gets the Tigerfang, keep him with that the rest of the
game. Its Sabin's best weapon, even if Godhand is slightly stronger,
it doesn't boost Magic Power, so ends up worse in practice, and it can
be gotten early. Also, Sabin probably is going to want a Circlet to
boost his damage, though you may prefer something more defensive like
Genji Helm, so its debatable.
Sabin's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Tigerfang
Godhand
Impartisan
Helmets:
Red Cap
Priest's Miter
Circlet
Genji Helmet
Green Beret
Saucer
Armor:
Red Jacket
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
The only freaking Set Up Sabin should use:
Tiger Fangs
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield/Thunder Shield
Circlet
Red Jacket
The usual distinction in Shields kicks in, so choose based on what you
want. Circlet boosts his damage, Red Jacket is flat out his best
armor, and Tiger Fangs are his best overall weapon. Really, only
variations you can make to this set up might altering his helmet for
something more defensive (like a Genji Helm.) Do not bother with Genji
Glove set ups for Sabin since, well, not only do many characters use
them better, Sabin probably only gets hurt by it. Just stick with
basic Phantom Rush spams.
Monks Are Suppose to Fight, Dumass!:
Godhand
Godhand
Red Cap
Red Jacket
Genji Glove
Master�s Scroll
I only listed this set up for those curious about a PHYSICAL SABIN!!!
Build. I�m gonna be blunt here. You see Terra�s Genji Glove set ups
that don�t use Ultima Weapon? Notice how they only use one Relic slot
too, and that relic is *NOT* the incredibly elusive Master�s scroll?
Well, those set ups do MORE DAMAGE, and don�t completely fail on defenses
like this one does. Alternatively, this set up gives up what little
defense Sabin has for�less damage than his Blitz based set ups, and
requires front row! I really shouldn�t have to explain why you should
avoid this set up.
Miscellaneous Info on Sabin:
-Sabin can kill Vargas before the tutorial. Just use Raging Fist right
on the spot, and he dies. Or you could try and kill him with damage,
but given Vargas' HP, and how he hits you with a Countdown Effect,
you'd need to be really high leveled.
-This isn�t particularly useful, and it�s probably well known by now, but
its fun to do nonetheless. In the fight with Phantom Train, use the
Meteor Strike; Sabin will quite literally SUPLEX A TRAIN. Never mind he
was RUNNING AWAY FROM IT at the same time. Its worth watching at least
once, in any event, if you haven�t seen it.
-Sabin at Figaro also provokes lines from the shop keepers! Pity they
don't give him his brother's discount�
-For fun, have a confused Sabin use Aura Bolt, and see if he hits
himself. Or heck, do that with ANY Blitz. They are all hilarious to
watch him attack himself in nonsensical manners. Worth anything? No,
not really, just novelty.
-Sabin is the ONLY optional character you can get before the Falcon. I
suggest you make use of this.
-Sabin is required to start Gau's Father sequence. Why him? Who knows,
he just is (well, ok, he plays a big part in the scene, but lets not
get into that)
-See that point regarding Edgar for that extra scene in Figaro? Well,
seeing as Sabin is the other element required for that, I think it
belongs in this section or something, so yeah, you need Sabin to
trigger it.
-If you do NOT recruit Sabin in the WoR, his ending scene with Edgar
changes, to compensate the lack of him. It also helps indicate just how
ridiculously strong Sabin really is (at least in the sense of brute
strength), if apparently holding up an entire house wasn�t a good enough
indication.
Skill set:
Sabin's Blitzes are all gained at different levels, except Bum Rush,
which can be gained in an optional plot sequence. All of them have a
special command sequence, though, you can check that up yourself in
game. As a side note, trying a sequence before Sabin learns it WILL
result in a failure; no trying Phantom Rush before the plot sequence or
before Sabin is level 70.
Raging Fist:
Gained at level 1
Effects: Physical damage to one enemy
Comments: Not bad early game, though, kind of obsolete from the get go,
since Sabin will have Aura Cannon, which is generally superior. It does
have a few good moments, like against Holy immune early game enemies like
Ifrit and Shiva.
Aura Cannon:
Gained at Level 6
Effects: Holy elemental magic damage to one enemy
Comments: Sabin's best Blitz for raw ST damage for quite a while (until
he gets Razor Gale or Phantom Rush, basically) Besides being elemental
(which is a double edged sword), this Blitz has no flaws, and is about on
par with an Ara spell for power.
Meteor Strike:
Gained at level 10
Effects: physical damage to one enemy, fails against some enemies, does
half damage if more than one enemy is alive
Comments: I don't know WHAT Square was thinking but�seriously, a Single
Target attack that does NOT ignore Split? Well, that's not exactly
what it is, coding wise, but effectively, that's what they made it.
This move CAN be stronger than Aura Cannon, but generally, since
multiple enemies exist often, and Bosses tend to be immune to this,
it�s a pretty bad Blitz. Heck, if more than one enemy is alive, Raging
Fist will do more damage.
Rising Phoenix:
Gained at level 15
Effects; Fire elemental magic damage to all enemies
Comments: Solid Blitz. Not much for raw single target damage, but its
good for crowd control. Sabin's only decent means of taking out groups
throughout the WoB, and the WoR prior to Razor Gale anyway.
Chakra:
Gained at level 23
Effects: Heals allies for an amount equal Sabin's current HP/party
members excluding Sabin, THIS DOES NOT TARGET Sabin. Also cures
several status ailments.
Comments: Pretty sad Blitz. By the time you get it, Status isn't much
of an issue, and you will likely already have Esuna and Cura by then
anyway. The healing isn't worth much anyway, and Sabin MUST be at high
HP for it to even register as healing. Its nice, I guess, when you
first get Sabin in the WoR, since if Sabin's at full HP, its free full
healing to Celes, should she just have been hit with something nasty.
If you want Sabin to heal, just have him cast Cura, even off his Magic,
it'll end up the better option 95% of the time.
Razor Gale:
Gained at level 30
Effects: Wind elemental magic damage to all enemies
Comments: Great Blitz. This is basically like a "Rising Phoenix 2" of
sorts, nixing the different element. Great for crowd control, and not
too shabby on the raw damage department either. One of the few Wind
attacks in the game doesn't hurt either, given how rarely that element is
immuned/absorbed.
Soul Spiral:
Gained at level 42
Effects: Heals whole party for massive amounts, and recovers just about
every negative status in the game, removes Sabin from the battle, and
he is then considered dead (unlike a Sneezed character who is just
considered out of the battle, ala Run)
Comments: Horrible Blitz. Yay! Fully heal the team at the cost of one
character's life that you can't recover until the end of the battle!
Chances are, by the time you get this, Curaga already exists anyway.
Avoid this Blitz unless you are absolutely desperate and are confident
you can win without Sabin!
Phantom Rush:
Gained at level 70, or by meeting Duncan in his Hut
Effects: Non elemental magic damage to one foe
Comments: Sabin's best Blit, barring MAYBE Razor Gale (Raw damage vs. MT
Damage argument, etc.) This attack hurts make no mistake. Its this move
alone that Sabin gets love. While it's not as good as broadcast, likely,
it's still pretty damn effective. Sabin should be doing nothing but
using this whenever he gets a turn once this move is available, besides
maybe against large groups where Razor Gale might be a better option.
It's generally his best damage by far until really high levels, when
Master�s Scroll physical out powers it (though, this goes for ANY
character, mind, not just Sabin)
Ending Thoughts:
To be blunt, Sabin is not worth the hype, be it good or bad. Haters
will act like he's the worst thing ever, when he clearly is not that
bad, meanwhile, inexperienced players will act like he's equivalent to
FFT's Orlandu (who gets a bit overhyped as well, but is generally more
deserving of it) for brokenness in game, or even just hype him for all
the wrong reasons. Sabin is a pretty averagish character in general.
He has good damage, both MT and ST, and that's about all he has. Not
the IDEAL CHARACTER!!! or anything, but not a horrid one either. A
typical �good at what he does� character and not much else.
=======
| CELES |
=======
#Rune Knight#
Extra HP: 44
Extra MP: 15
Strength: 34
Speed: 34
Stamina: 31
Magic Power: 36
Attack: 16
Defense: 44
Evasion: 7%
Magic Defense: 31
Magic Evasion: 9%
Level Readjustment: +0
Special Ability: Runic
Effects: Celes can only use this ability if she is equipped with a
weapon tagged "Runic.� When this is used, it puts Celes in "Runic"
status until she acts again or activates its effect. Under this status,
she'll absorb the next spell, regardless of its source, providing the
spell can be hit by Runic. If spell can not be hit by Runic, then it is
ignored entirely. Once one spell is absorbed, Celes loses this status
until she uses Runic again. When Runic absorbs a spell, Celes regains MP
equal to the amount of its MP cost. Note that the elemental absorption
rules apply here in REVERSE, so absorbing a spell with Runic while you
absorb that element resorts in MP DAMAGE, for example.
Character Analysis:
I'm going to be relatively brief with Celes. Why? Because frankly,
it'll seem like I'm reiterating a lot of the stuff I said earlier for
Terra. Yes, Celes and Terra are very much carbon copies of one
another, outside of Runic vs. Trance, some minor stat differences
(well, +3 Magic Power kind of matters, I suppose), the natural spells
they learn (which becomes kind of pointless once you get Espers) and
their Dragon's Den weapon. Well, if you want to be technical, Terra
can use the Cotton Robe and Celes cannot, and their Desperations are
slightly different (Celes has 1 more spell power on hers!), but yeah,
otherwise, they're practically the same character. Using a lot of the
philosophy behind what makes Terra good in this game follows for Celes
as well. This includes the great equipment, flexibility between Mage
and Fighter options, good early game healer, what have you. Basically,
the rest of this section will focus on anything different Celes has
that makes her stand out compared to Terra, as otherwise, its the same
stuff over again.
First off, their early game stuff is a little different. They share most
of the same spells, only difference being Blizzard vs. Fire, which
doesn�t seem like much, and Celes seems to have the edge in Runic vs.
Nothing. However, this isn�t strictly the case; for the section of the
game Terra and Celes share (Narshe Battle), there�s one enemy where Runic
is useful on, and it�s a boss (Kefka.) Flipside, Terra has subtle,
somewhat more significant advantages. The first is how much better Fire
is in practice compared to Blizzard. The spells are about equal in
damage, but Fire hits weakness on 3 enemies during that section (one of
them is a pseudo boss), while Blizzard hits none, so Terra has the
effective edge in offense, IN ADDITION to the fact that Terra can hurt
Heavy Armors (one of the NON Fire Weaks, go figure) with her magic, while
Celes has them provoke their little Reflect status, making her
offensively useless against them once you factor in their high defenses
(she can runic Magitek Lasers, though, providing you let them live that
long). Terra also effectively has more MP than Celes, not only due to a
(negligible) higher base, but Fire�s costs 1 less MP than Blizzard.
Doesn�t sound like much until you consider Terra can cast 12-13 Fire
spells per single Ether where as Celes can only cast 10 Blizzard spells.
Not to mention, negligible as it may be, Terra�s healing is also slightly
better than Celes� due to higher magic power. Drain vs. Imp is pretty
much insignificant overall, as you won�t be using either much at this
point.
Yes, I just went into depth regarding Terra vs. Celes in the Narshe
Battle Sequence, but its one of the only areas they actually share in the
WoB. The other WoB area they share is the Floating Continent, where
Terra just kind of dominates for a number of reasons. For starters, the
Trance > Runic scenario kicks in, which I�ll get to a little bit later.
More importantly, though, is the Esper time. Terra just had a whole lot
of time to learn magic, boost her magic power with Espers, etc. that
Celes didn�t have, and Celes really needs to play catch up. There�s just
no legitimate reason to choose Celes over Terra at this point. Celes
does get a chance to make up for lost ground right after the Floating
Continent, where she�s available for the entire early WoR, mind, so by
the time Terra rejoins, Celes has had some time to close the gap some,
but on the Floating Continent, it�s a significant loss.
ANYWAY, the main difference between Terra and Celes would be Runic vs.
Trance. Trance as I noted is an excellent method for butchering bosses
if used intelligently, and its one of Terra�s selling points. Runic is
defensive, which isn�t necessarily a bad thing, however, its worth
defensively isn�t nearly as good as Trance�s worth offensively. It has
too many holes in terms of what it hits, and can actually mess you�re
your team. For example, lets have Celes use Runic, hoping to nab the
enemy�s spell, HOWEVER, the enemy acts instead using something NOT
Runicable, and bypasses it completely. Right there, Celes has wasted her
turn. But what if during this sequence, you had Relm try and cast
Flare? Now Celes ends up absorbing that, and suddenly, Relm wasted HER
turn too! That�s two character turns wasted, all cause things didn�t
quite end up how you wanted! In the end, Runic is only really useful if
its something that Healing can�t deal with, which in most cases can be
summed up as �Ultima� for things that Runic can actually work with, which
very few things use. Furthermore, many Runicable attacks have easier
means of getting around them, like Elemental resistance. Its good earlier
on when your healing is much worse, hence the usual suggestion of using
it on Narshe Kefka (Tunnel Armor is a given), but once you get Cura,
you�re probably better off using Celes� turns for that rather than Runic
(or alternatively, have Celes go on the offensive and have someone else
heal when you need it.) In the end, there�s a reason Trance gets a lot
more respect than Runic, and that�s mainly cause its uses are not only
more obvious, but generally more practical, where as Runic is just TOO
niche for its own good.
The other main difference doesn't occur until Dragon's Den. This is
when Celes gets her first arguable noteworthy advantage on Terra. Save
the Queen is easily one of the best Dragon's Den weapons, sporting
stats that make it kind of like a chibi-Lightbringer. This isn't to
say its strictly better than Apocalypse mind; don't make that mistake.
The two are merely different, in that Apocalypse more takes advantage
of the offensive end while Save the Queen is more defensive.
Basically, Celes becomes a better defensive character than Terra,
Lightbringer cheese aside (which they both can use ANYWAY), however,
she's pretty much forced to act as a Mage using this weapon, since its
damage is a bit disappointing despite the 255 Attack. Keep this
in mind when you decide who you want to be a Mage and who you want to
be a Fighter (it use to be often Terra = Mage, Celes = Fighter due to
their starting stats, but somehow, I suspect the Dragon's Den weapons
will shift the way people raise those two.) Regardless, Save the Queen
vs. Apocalypse is like the biggest difference Terra and Celes have,
outside of maybe Runic vs. Trance, and its the first actual significant
case that Celes has for use over Terra, though again, bare in mind that
Save the Queen, like Apocalypse, is still inferior to Lightbringer in
everyway, so its mostly there as a substitute should not enough
Lightbringer�s be available.
So in the end, Celes is pretty much the same damn character as Terra,
with a worse special, and a different (though still rather useful)
niche on her Dragon's Den weapon. This is by no means a bad thing
granted, as Terra without Trance still has all those nice goodies in
the godly equipment selection, and well rounded enough to be molded as
a mage or a fighter, which Celes can very well fit. Definitely a
strong character.
Strategies for Celes throughout the game:
-Don't buy any equipment for her in South Figaro as a pre-emptive
measure when she joins. It�s a waste of money, first of all, as she'll
get stuff in the dungeon anyway, and secondly, there's better stuff
that can be gotten in Kohlingen and Nikeah ANYWAY (if you did Sabin's
Scenario first, keep this in mind.)
-Give her the Silk Robe for the Narshe Battle Sequence. Slight defense
loss for better Magic Defense and +1 to Magic Power is worth it,
especially considering Iron Armor lowers your speed (by a negligible
amount)
-If you don't have enough Green Beret's for the Narshe battle sequence
(this depends on how many Satellites you fought on the Veldt), get a
Magus Hat for Celes too. Slight Defense is nothing compared to +5 to
Magic Power at the time. In fact, Magus Hat may still be better than
Green Beret anyway, though at least here it�s debatable.
-Wouldn't be a bad idea to give Celes one (or both) of those Earrings you
got during the Scenario sequence. In fact, one of them is outright
found in Locke's scenario, you might as well give her that one.
-Celes should be taken to beat Kefka in Narshe. His Blizzara STINGS
like nothing else at the moment, so having Runic there is quite
helpful, along with stopping annoyances such as Confuse or Drain. Best
paired with someone with high Offense like Sabin or Gau w/ Stray Cat
Rage.
-Remember to Re-equip Celes after the Opera house sequence, as for some
reason, they decide to strip her naked for that sequence (probably for
Ultros purposes). This includes her Esper too, as a reminder
-Celes should stick with the White Dress for the Magitek Factory. +5
to Magic Power and higher Magic Defense is a lot more useful than a
minor defense boost from the Mythril Mail, especially considering Magic
is going to be quite helpful in the next area.
-Giving Celes Ramuh for the Magitek Factory can be pretty mean. With
magic power boosting equips along with Two Earrings/Hero Rings, summoning
Ramuh is incredibly brutal there, so long as you don't mind the MP cost.
The enemies here have considerably worse Magic Defense than physical
defense, and most are weak to Lighting to boot.
-Get the Minerva Bustier ASAP. Its one of Celes� big selling points
(much like Terra�s), and can be gotten incredibly early. In fact, you
can get it before facing Dullahan, though the prospect of leaving the
dungeon, getting the armor and returning is probably not worth the time,
so you might as well just grab it after you get the Falcon.
-When using Celes in the WoR, apply similar strategies to her as you
would Terra, unless they involve Trance. Yeah, cheap shot to end this
section faster, but I really don't feel its necessary to retype all
that junk about Terra for Celes, when its easier to just say that.
What about Copy and Paste? Still too much work <_<
-Ok, so there is one last comment I have, sue me? *is sued* ...should
have seen that coming. Anyway, in Dragon's Den, unless the weapon
being replaced is named Lightbringer, I highly recommend you give Celes
Save the Queen. Sporting +7 Magic Power, and +40% to both evasion
stats, its unlikely Celes will want any other weapon.
Celes's Ultimate and other Noteworthy equipment
Weapons (listed in no particular order):
Lightbringer
Ultima Weapon
Enhancer
Save the Queen
Ragnarok
Zantetsuken
Excalibur
Organyx
Impartisan
Helmets:
Mystery Veil
Circlet
Red Cap
Genji Helm
Oath Veil
Green Beret
Saucer
Armors:
Genji Armor
Minerva Bustier
Force Armor
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
End Game Celes Set ups:
Set Up of Evil:
Lightbringer
Paladin's Shield
Green Beret
Force Armor
Zephyr's Cloak
Prayer Beads
If this Set Up doesn't look familiar, you haven't been paying close
attention to Terra, Edgar and Locke. Basically, this is the usual
128/128 set up, and Celes is the 4th and last character who can use
this. Of course, this still has the "uses that lone Paladin's Shield"
thing so you might prefer...
Set Up of Evil Mark 2:
Lightbringer
Lightbringer
Green Beret
Force Armor
Genji Glove
Prayer Beads
Same use as above, the usual "Has better Offense, worse on defenses,
can actually be given to more than one character" uses. Of course,
given Lightbringers aren't the easiest thing to harvest, you might just
prefer settling with...
The Almost Perfect Evasion:
Lightbringer
Save the Queen
Green Beret
Force Armor
Genji Glove
Prayer Beads
See what I mean about Save the Queen giving Celes a niche? This set up
grants Celes the perfect magic evasion, and ALMOST perfect Evasion (as
in, 1% less.) Its very clearly inferior to the above two, not for the
evasion reasons, but cause the first one gives perfect elemental
immunity and higher defense against things that get through, while the
latter set up gives somewhat higher offense, and full back row
compatibility with it. So what does this set up have? Not needing to
go out of your way to get more than one Lightbringer, or wasting that
lone Paladin�s Shield so its a nice supplement if you still have only
one.
You Might As Well Rename her Beatrix:
Save the Queen
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield
Mystery Veil
Minerva Bustier
Soul of Thamasa
If you aren't going to abuse the hell out of Lightbringers, this works
as a nicely balanced set up. Save the Queen's usual greatness is being
used here, as are the trademark Mystery Veil and Minerva Bustier that
Celes loves to take advantage of as much as Terra does, and the two
shields...well, as usual, they come down to "What do you want more?"
Regarding the name of this set up? If you've played FF9, you might get
the reference. Soul of Thamasa was tossed on here because, frankly, if
you're using Celes with Save the Queen, there's a VERY good chance
you're using her as a mage, might as well maximize on it, right? Seeing
as she's also one of the best mages in the game, though feel free to
drop it if you want to give it to Relm or something, should they be in
the same team.
Maybe Renaming Her Meliadoul Would Work Better:
Save the Queen
Save the Queen
Mystery Veil
Minerva Bustier
Genji Glove
If you really want to abuse Save the Queen's evasion stats, this is
how. If you ask me though? This set up largely isn't worth it. You
could get the same evasion boosts from an Aegis Shield in that second
arm slot, and a Prayer Beads from that Genji Glove Slot, and you'd have
much higher defenses, as your evade isn't perfect either. The one
advantage this set up has is more offense; it gives Celes a bit higher
speed, another +7 Magic Power (which, if you don't mind dropping those
Prayer Beads, would get offset by the prospect of another Earring), and
obviously, two weapons instead of one. If you really want evasion,
want to avoid using Lightbringer and Paladin's Shield, AND want the
best damage you can get, I suppose this set up is the way to go, but
frankly, that's a very situational case, and getting that second Save
the Queen isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, especially since one
of the two methods (Soul Shrine) for the second StQ takes LONGER than
just getting another Lightbringer, all things considered (the other
method involves losing Apocalypse, if you're wondering.)
Nukage Personified:
Lightbringer
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield
Mystery Veil
Minerva Bustier
Soul of Thamasa
Identical to the set up Terra has with the same name. Basically Celes
acting as a mage at her finest. If you want, you can drop that
Lightbringer and use Save the Queen instead for similar results...but
then that'd just be the same as an earlier set up, so I figured I'd
throw a Lightbringer specific set up cause, well, I can! Bwahahahah!
*torched on the spot*
More Damage than you'll ever need...at high levels:
Ultima Weapon
Ultima Weapon
Red Cap
Minerva Bustier
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
Terra had this very same set up. It�s the best physical damage Celes
can get, ESPECIALLY since Celes can't use Apocalypse like Terra can and
thus, would need to dual wield Lightbringers for anything else. The
problem is, though, this set ups damage is disappointing at lower
levels, and the defenses are just flat out bad. Not a set up I
recommend unless you're really into the 8 Strikes thing, or are
extremely over leveled and need to break that damage cap.
More Damage than you'll ever need...at high levels Mark 2:
Ultima Weapon
Lightbringer
Red Cap
Minerva Bustier
Master's Scroll
Genji Glove
Similar to the above, except it has actual defenses from Lightbringer's
evasion to compensate for the loss of a shield. Again, not something
I'd recommend. You could probably get away with Save the Queen here,
given Master's Scroll removes the Automatic Critical Hit rate anyway (and
the Rnadom Holy castings too), so in this case, you're just losing a bit
of Evasion and +7 Strength, but personally, I'd just avoid this set up in
general.
Unorthodox use of Equipment:
Lightbringer
Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
Prayer Beads
Prayer Beads
You know what? Since I'm lazy, I'll just say this. Everything that
applies to Terra in this set up applies to Celes as well. I suppose
the one difference is that you could use Save the Queen, if you don't
mind dropping some evasion, if you want to hold onto that Lightbringer
for someone else, but that's about it for differences. Ok, fine, she
has better evasion and Magic Evasion, but worse Magic Defense.
Miscellaneous Info on Celes:
-If you're wondering, there are a total of two equip differences
between Terra and Celes. The first is the obvious Dragon's Den
distinction; Terra gets Apocalypse, Celes gets Save the Queen. The
other is how Celes misses out on one armor that Terra gets, that being
the almighty COTTON ROBE bought in South Figaro's WoB.
-Of all the weapons Celes can use, only three of them don't work with
Runic. Those are the Chain Flail, the Morning Star, and the Ultima
Weapon. So yeah, chances are, if Celes has a weapon, she can use
Runic.
-Celes gets some extra Dialogue if you bring her to Locke's Past
sequences in WoB Kohlingen, at the Opera House. Sure, its only one
more line, but still. Also gets one more line if she's in your party
for when you meet up with Locke in the WoR.
-Saving Cid does NOTHING game play wise. Unless you have some moral
side of you forcing you to save him, or just like to see that raincoat
weirdo whenever you want, its likely easier to just kill the bastard.
That, and it adds to Celes' character more, oddly.
-Celes, like Terra, naturally hits the MP Cap at level 99, so if you're
a perfectionist in this regard, its worth noting Celes NEVER needs an
Esper Boost in MP (and yes, her theoretical MP score WOULD be in the 4
digits as well)
-Celes is the first character gotten in the WoR! This means she can
get some more Esper time in. Note that at the beginning of the WoR,
Celes' level is refactored to be equal to whatever the average of all
the characters you have thus far (if Gau is on the Veldt, he doesn't
count, for example. Nor does Mog if you missed him in the WoB), so
don't think of doing something like "Raise Characters, and ignore
Celes, so can abuse the WoR!" as its not going to work.
-Celes has a minor glitch associated with her. I call this minor since
it won't mean much in the long run, given its related to what spells
she can learn. See, for some reason, Celes learns two spells (Haste and
Confuse) at the same level, which isn't that weird, until you consider
they're actually listed separate from one another, with Berserk being in
between both (so the order would be Haste -> Berserk -> Confuse.)
Normally, this doesn't matter, however, whenever Celes rejoins with her
level refactored, should she somehow his level 32 without Confuse being
learned, she won't learn it due to this oddity in spell listing. Again,
its rather minor, as you could always just teach Celes (and good chance
you already have since its available early) Confuse through an Esper, but
if you're playing an NMG or something, keep this in mind.
-If you don�t recruit Locke, Celes� scene in the ending which she shares
with Locke will change to factor him out. While I said saving Cid has
absolutely no impact beyond the scene you saved him, its fun to note that
this scene makes ESPECIALLY little sense if you DID save Cid, but skipped
recruiting Locke.
-GENERAL MOGHAN! No, I�m not crazy, and its not a simple case of just
renaming Celes �Moghan� and there�s a reason I specifically chose that
name. Essentially, there�s a way to skip recruiting Celes altogether in
South Figaro, and finish it with Locke alone. When the game next needs
Celes in a plot scene (that being just before Narshe Battle Sequence),
it�ll use Moghan instead of Celes. The reason is because having never
met Celes, the game never properly replaced Moghan, the placeholder
moogle from the �Save Terra� sequence, with Celes, so it just uses the
character in that slot. This will result in having Moghan in the rest of
the game over Celes. So what�s the purpose of this besides novelty?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Moghan is a complete garbage character, having
really bad stats, only actions Fight and Item, and it can�t change
equips. How to activate this glitch? You need to trick the game into
having Locke run past that guard at the eastern edge of town through
timing the menu and button presses right. Its hard to explain, but just
know it involves tricking the game into making Locke walk through that
guard.
Skill set:
Like Terra, Celes has only one special ability that has no set of
skills. However, also like Terra, Celes has a bunch of spells she
learns simply by leveling up. The list of those spells is as follows:
Lv 1: Blizzard
Lv 4: Cure
Lv 8: Poisona
Lv 13: Imp
Lv 18: Libra
Lv 22: Protect
Lv 26: Blizzara
Lv 32: Haste
Lv 32: Confuse
Lv 40: Berserk
Lv 42: Blizzaga
Lv 48: Vanish
Lv 52: Hastega
Lv 72: Holy
Lv 81: Flare
Lv 98: Meteor
Ending Thoughts:
All things considered, Celes is just Terra without Trance, instead
getting an inferior special in Runic, and a somewhat different Dragon's
Den equip. Its safe to say that she is one of the best characters in
the game. She MAY be in Terra's shadow prior Dragon's Den, but you
could just always use both, and her effectiveness won't be compensated
(there is enough of the good stuff for BOTH of them to take advantage
of, after all. Definitely a character you don't want to neglect.
========
| STRAGO |
========
#Blue Mage#
Extra HP: 35
Extra MP: 13
Strength: 28
Speed: 25
Stamina: 19
Magic Power: 34
Attack: 10
Defense: 33
Evasion: 6%
Magic Defense: 27
Magic Evasion: 7%
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: Sabre Soul
Special Ability: Lores
Effects: Basically, this is the magic skill set, with different spells,
and learned in a special way, but otherwise identical (costs MP,
affected by Silence, etc.) Anytime Strago witnesses a new Lore (be it
used by the enemy, Relm's sketches, or Gau's rages), he will learn it
at the end of the battle, so long as he "sees" the attack.
Essentially, that means Strago must be in your party and not under one
of several status' (Blind, Petrify, Wounded, and Freeze are a few)
However, note that if the spell is cast, and THEN he gets hit with the
status later in the fight, he will still learn the spell.
Character Analysis:
Going back to Stereotype classes after, if Shadow was the Ninja, and
Sabin was the monk, Strago is the Blue Mage. If that's not obvious
based on how Lores work and his class name...well, you must not play
many Final Fantasy games or something. Regardless, Strago is the first
character you get who'd fall under the classification of a pure
dedicated Mage. Its a pity his Magic stat is a bit disappointing (one
point higher than Shadow), though he can get a lot of Magic Power
boosting equips to compensate at least. His Lores skill set is mostly
just a variation of Magic in one way or another, often having some sort
of catch or quirk to the attack.
So how does Strago hold up exactly? Well, when you first get him, he's
pretty good. Aqua Breath, his primary damage Lore, is stronger than an
Ara spell by a significant amount, and unlike Sabin's Aura Cannon
(which is weaker anyway), Strago can scrape up a decent Magic score to
make that worthwhile. Only flaw it has is that it can't be single
targeted, and is forced MT, meaning it can't focus on single enemies
unless there is one target available, and thus you'll always get the
halved MT value. This flaw tends to be rather minor, but it still can be
annoying against scenarios like Ultros+Typhon on the Airship, where you
want to nail one of them, but you�ll end up healing the other. His other
early Lores aren't particularly special, though Traveler can work as a
back up damage Lore if need be, Stone can be brutal if your level is
equal to the enemies (its an Intangr killer if you are level 26), and
White Wind is a nice supplement for Cura, especially if you like Reflect
status. His other early games are just impractical (Revenge Blast for
example), or are just too situational (the Level reliant spells.)
And this is where Strago's decline starts. He has a nice strong start
in the WoB, but the WoR, what does he bring? Not a whole lot. Grand
Delta is reasonably strong, and Mighty Guard is pretty nifty, but the
Magic Skill set is still outclassing most of what he can do. So he's a
dedicated mage, so that isn't such a bad thing, right? It is when you
consider Relm beats him in that department in everyway, having 10
points higher in Magic, and able to use some better equipment (most
notably the Cat-ear Hood), Strago's enhanced skill set just doesn't
quite compare as much as you'd like. This would be Strago's big
failing; Lores just don't have enough to stand out compared to Magic,
and his stats just aren't good enough (having game worst base speed
doesn't help, though his best armor, the Behemoth Suit, does help cover
that.)
As far equipment go...pretty much what you'd expect of a mage. Nothing
that strong defensively, good magic defense...though the Behemoth Suit
is weird in that it has the 2nd highest defense score (Reed Cloak
excepted), yet worse Magic Defense than the Genji Armor, so I suppose
he's not completely like that. He does get a really good weapon in the
Magus Rod though, even if its not quite as good as it use to be since
the Evade bug was fixed, but nonetheless, its a equip to have. It also
renders his Dragon's Den equip, the Stardust Rod, kind of pointless
since it has the same purpose, just gives 30% Magic Evasion which
automatically makes it better than any other stat it could boost, and
the special random Meteors cast by the Stardust Rod just aren't worth
much in the end.
So really, how good is Strago? Not particularly good. Similar to
Sabin, Gogo can fulfill any niche he has, and due to having access to
things like Blitz, he can pull off higher damage despite the lower
stats, so Strago's only real edge is higher defense, which just isn't
enough in this case. Considering that Relm and Gogo both outclass him
in most ways that matter, Strago's uses are limited outside of when you
first get him. Sad to say, but FF6 isn't exactly a game where Blue
Magic was godly (like it was in FF5 or FF7.) However, unlike Sabin,
Strago lacks a lot of Sabin�s little minor bonuses, such like the
incredible Esper time, so he�s hit even harder by this Gogo factor,
making it even harder to justify using him, ESPECIALLY when other skills
do the damage thing better than Lores (like Blitz), and most of Lore�s
uses come from utility, which are stat independent.
Strategies for Strago throughout the game:
-I think it should be obvious by now, especially with his ability to
equip the Morning Star, Strago should go into the back row. Being a mage
makes him want those defenses after all.
-Strago's physical can be made rather effective, though, if he's in the
front row and able to nail a weakness. Genji Glove + one of the
elemental rods tends to do more damage than you'd expect, especially if
the random spell casting kicks in. Not that I recommend doing this, but
just know its there.
-Strago should be using the Mythril Rod for the WoB, due to its Magic
Power increase, he doesn't have much use for anything else otherwise.
Similarly, that Tabby Suit you got from the mountain should go to him;
slightly worse defensively than the Chocobo Suit or Gaia Gear, but the
Magic Power boost is worth it, and unlike Relm, he doesn�t have access to
the White Dress, so it�s the best he�ll get. For Helmet...tough call,
you might want Green Beret for overall defenses, Priest's Miter for that
quick boost to MP, or Magus Hat for that boost to Magic Power, its your
call. Like with Sabin, Earrings are probably his best friend.
-Even though Aqua Breath can keep Strago afloat for awhile, it wouldn't
hurt to teach him some Ara spells or Bio, just to keep his elemental
variety up. If you face an enemy that nulls or absorbs Wind or Water
(like Ultros), the spell becomes useless, and you might want to be able
to focus your damage to one enemy in some cases, which Aqua Breath
can't do. Not to mention that hitting weakness with an Ara spell or Bio
will out damage Aqua Breath to boot.
-Try to get as many Lores ASAP. There's a decent FAQ for at least one
version of this game (meaning you might need to check the SNES version)
that tells you the location of every potential place to learn Lores in
this game, and how to trigger them. Do note that this FAQ won't factor
in the Soul Shrine or Dragon's Den, but those are relatively minor
compared, as you can get all of them easily enough without those two
dungeons.
-In the WoR, Strago should have the Behemoth Suit stapled onto him,
especially since you now get two from the King Behemoth instead of one
(all that meant in the original was some Veldt hunting til you fought
another, so this mostly just saved time.) Its his best Armor barring
none, take advantage of it. Similarly, he should be using the Magus
Rod, though if you don't have one or enough of them, give him a
Swordbreaker instead of that evasion boost is more valuable than
anything else he can use.
-Fight Hidon ASAP for Grand Delta. This is the best way to make Strago
worthwhile. I know I said get Lores ASAP, but I feel this one deserves
its own mention, since Grand Delta is well above other Lores in damage;
only Aero comes anywhere near it (doesn't hit defense so has potential
for higher damage and can hit a weakness to boot.) If you want, try to
get Aero before this (fight the birds near Kohlighen), if you want Strago
to have good damage on the way to Hidon, but its not overly important.
-While originally you only had one chance to learn Force Field, in this
version, you get a second chance, as Fiend appears in Soul Shrine, so
don't feel too bad if you forgot to put Strago in your team that faces
him. Do note, however, that Force Field is a little better in this game
as such enemies like Dragon�s Den Holy Dragon can get completely walled
by such a spell if you�re lucky, so you�ll probably want it.
Strago's Ultimate and other Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Magus Rod
Gladius
Stardust Rod
Swordbreaker
Impartisan
Helmets:
Circlet
Priest's Hat
Genji Helm
Red Cap
Green Beret
Saucer
Armor:
Behemoth Suit
Nutkin Suit
Magus Robe
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
End Game Strago Set ups:
Blue Magic Power!:
Magus Rod
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield/Thunder Shield
Circlet
Behemoth Suit
Strago's best set up for raw damage. The usual "Choose Shield of your
choice" thing applies. All equips here are centered around boosting
Strago's Magic Power, and then Magus Rod's Magic Evasion there
complements the set up defensively some. This is pretty much the only
decent set up for Strago, now that Magic Evasion isn't the all purpose
stat it use to be, rendering 127% Magic Evasion set up kind of
meaningless overall.
Miscellaneous Stuff regarding Strago:
-As a Reminder, Strago can STILL learn things if he is dead. Rather,
if he's seen the attack while he was alive, and then is killed, he'll
still learn the Lore. So don't start getting annoyed when Strago gets
killed midway in the fight, if he's seen the Lore, as he'll learn it.
-Strago has one spell that's cost actually RAISES with the
Celestriad?that spell being Reflect ???, which costs initially 0.
Celestriad raises it to 1.
-Strago can actually get some obscure status' easier than others! With
Rippler, he can nab Trance, Interceptor, Rage, among other things if
used in odd ball fashions (used on an enemy who just ripplered a
different character, in conjunction with Confuse, what have you) Yes,
you can see Strago suddenly undergo a sex change and look exactly like
Esper Terra. Pity he can't use her equips >_>
-Strago can help with stealing! Dischord halves the enemies levels, so
using this raises the chances of stealing a bit. Handy for getting
annoying things like stocking up on Impartisans and such.
-Strago is yet ANOTHER character who naturally gets 999 MP. Basically,
yeah, another character who needs no MP Boosts. Meaningless? Sure, but
it might matter for you perfectionists out there.
-If you do not recruit Strago, but DO recruit Relm, Relm�s little ending
sequence will change to compensate Strago not being there. Strago is
also the only optional character to play an impact in another optional
character�s ending.
Skill set:
Strago's Lores are all gotten from monsters, besides the initial 3 he
starts with (Stone, Revenge Blast, and Aqua Breath) It'd be annoying
to go through EVERY enemy and see who uses which Lore, and again,
there's already a very well written FAQ dedicated to obtaining Lores
written by Assassin (might have to check the SNES version mind), so
I'll just point you there to finding the Lores.
Doom:
Effects: Adds a Counter to the enemy. When the counter reaches 0,
Death is cast on the enemy, in a form that never fails beyond immunity
to the status.
Comments: Not particularly useful. By the time the counter hits 0,
Doom is likely to have hit by then. Probably better to not bother with
this outside of completion purposes.
Roulette:
Effects: Starts off selecting every target, and prompts the user to
press "A" When pressed, the Cursor slows down til it stops on one
target. This target is then hit by Doom in the same manner as
Condemned's.
Comments: Kind of worthless, though, at least it can be used as a
theoretical last resort, as it WILL work the turn it's used, unlike
Condemned and its delay, so if you are going to die anyway, and the
enemy is vulnerable to Instant Death, why not, right? Note that despite
a one believed claim, there is no way to control what target is hit by
this move; it actually takes a random number of targets from the position
you pressed the button and that target dies, so pausing to insure you get
the right target won�t work.
Tsunami:
Effects: Water elemental Magic damage to all enemies
Comments: Against a Single Foe, its inferior to Aqua Breath in everyway
unless they absorb/null wind. However, it ignores split damage, so its
better than Aqua Breath for crowd control. Decent spell�or would be if
it was gotten earlier. As it stands, you can get Flood, which is equal
against multiple targets, and better against single targets, around the
same time.
Aqua Breath:
Effects: Wind/Water Elemental magic damage to all enemies
Comments: This is quite nasty considering its one of Strago's initial
Lores, and when you first get, its in a dungeon with Water Weak
monsters. It's stronger than an Ara spell, to boot. Quite a good
spell, for when you first get Strago, and it�s a combo of two rarely
resisted elements, and two elements that most have problems applying as
well.
Aero:
Effects: Wind Elemental magic damage to all enemies
Comments: This is the only Non Grand Delta attack spell worth using
throughout the WoR in the Lore skillset. It�s on par with Aga spells for
damage, and its element is one that's rarely ever a factor. Solid Spell
overall, really.
1000 Needles:
Effects: Does 1000 damage to one enemy, regardless
Comments: Umm�er�this spell would be good if you got it and Strago much
earlier. As is, by the time Strago joins, he's breaking 1000 easily
enough with Aqua Rake as is. USELESS, except MAYBE in an LLG�maybe?
Mighty Guard:
Effects: Adds Safe and Shell status to whole party
Comments: The one spell in the entire Lore skill set that isn't matched
by anything in magic at all. This is rather nifty, as it set ups a
full defensive layer for your team in one casting.
Revenge Blast:
Effects: Damage equal to Caster�s Current HP subtracted from his Max
HP.
Comments: Worthless. This is basically Locke's Valiant Knife with a
base damage of 0, and thing is, Strago's almost always has better
things to do with his MP than use it on a move that does "good" damage
only when he's about to die. Granted, this is one of Strago's initial
Lores, not surprising it really isn't worth much.
White Wind:
Effects: Heals whole party for an amount equal to Caster�s current HP.
Comments: An interesting healing spell. Never really bad at any point
in the game, though, its worthless if Strago has low HP. Eh, probably
better to just use Cura(ga), which will heal a sufficient enough amount
at any point of the game, and you won't have to worry about the
caster's HP. Probably best quality of this spell is it�s a Healing
Spell that ignores Reflect AND Runic.
Lv. 5 Death:
Effects: Instant Death to all enemies whose level is a multiple of 5
(5, 10, 15, 20, etc.)
Comments: Pretty meh, as there isn't really much worthwhile that can be
hit with this. Requires you to use Libra, or to actually look up the
enemies level, and its generally easier to just use straight out
instant death, or just knock off all their HP. Make no mistake though;
it is good on things it can hit, just there aren�t quite enough to merit
use of this spell.
Lv. 4 Flare:
Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to all enemies whose level is a
multiple of 4 (4, 8, 12, 16, etc.)
Comments: Similar to Lv. 5 Death, this is too situational for any real
use. It�s theoretically better than Grand Delta for MT damage if all
enemies can be hit by this move, but usually, that's not the case.
Easier to just use other damaging Spells to kill enemies. Again, like
Lv. 5 Death, it has a few niche areas where it�s theoretically the best
option, just those aren�t enough to be worth considering.
Lv. 3 Confuse:
Effects: Adds Muddle status to all enemies whose level is a multiple of
3 (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, etc.)
Comments: Like its brethren, just too situational to really care about.
Besides, the existence of Noiseblaster, and the Cait Sith esper hurt
this things use as well, since both are also MT Confuse abilities, and
both never fail barring immunity.
Reflect ???:
Effects: Adds Blind, Silence, and Slow to any enemy who has Reflect
status.
Comments: Well, it�s the only spell in the game that has NO MP COST!
There's a reason for that; it sucks complete and utter ass, this move
serves pretty much NO purpose whatsoever, as not only is reflect status
rare (only really seen in Cultist�s Tower, where you can�t use the thing,
and the Ancient Castle area) but the enemies also have to be vulnerable
to the Status' as well (which go figure, most that have Reflect are�)
Lv. ? Holy:
Effects: Pearl Elemental Magic Damage to all enemies if level is a
multiple of whatever the last digit in your GP is (so if your GP is
238497, then it'd be a Lv. 7 Holy, per se)
Comments: The best Level based spell, ONLY because it can be tweaked
to hit anything. Good on Kefka's tower if you go in with a �Lv. 1 Holy�,
as NO enemy gives Gil that would effect that slot, and the spell is
probably Strago�s best form of MT damage, Magic Defense concerns aside.
Could be fun to muck around with, as a result, but might not be practical
enough to be worth bothering.
Traveler:
Effects: Does damage equal to Number of Steps/32. MP Cost goes up by
one point every 30 minutes.
Comments: The MP Cost thing really hurts this move. That, and the
damage is very disappointing. End game, it�s doing, oh I dunno, 3000 at
best, when Grand Delta is able to hit nearly double that easily enough,
and it�s likely costing less. Only thing you could argue about this
move is that its "easily built up" by running around a town senselessly
for hours, making it do massive damage early on�but I don't consider
that something standard AT ALL. Granted, if you are playing an LLG,
this move is GREAT, as its one of the few attacks whose damage is
independent of the casters level, letting you do some actual damage
late game!
Force Field:
Effects: Nulls out a totally random element for the rest of the fight
on every. This type of "protection" from the element overrides all
elemental features (weakness, absorption, what have you)
Comments: This move has gotten considerably better with the existence
of Dragon's Den (use to be usable only after you beat one of the last
bosses in Kefka's Tower; I'll let you figure out how useful that is).
Given most of the Dragons use primarily one element, and sometimes that
element (Holy Dragon's for example) isn't easy to block, this move can
save your ass if you're lucky. It can, however, also hurt you if you
null an element you are primarily using or the enemy is weak too. IOW,
this spell is a completely niche spell with completely niche
applications.
Dischord:
Effects: Halves an enemies level.
Comments: The only use this move has is for raising Steal odds. Why?
Cause it fails on all the same things Death does, and that hits more or
less just as often, meaning why bother weakening the enemy when you can
outright kill them? As such, only useful for stealing as it not only
makes the enemy weaker (thus less likely to kill you), but also raises
your odds of stealing since Steal is directly impacted by the target�s
level.
Bad Breath:
Effects: Hits one enemy with Poison, Sleep, Mute, Imp, Confuse, and
Blind Status.
Comments: Fun spell, however, it is slammed hard by the Imp Immunity
feature that this version of the game has, which is to say, any spell
that toggles Imp status will fail if the target is immune to Imp,
irregardless of what other status it may have. As such, this spell has
no real practical worth, despite being really cute on paper. Without
that Imp thing? Its more a convenience thing as most of the status� it
applies by itself are crippling enough alone, this would just serve to
not force you to look just what status enemies are vulnerable too.
Transfusion:
Effects: Heals Target's HP and MP fully, and recovers from most
status'. User is then removed from battle, and HP and MP is reduced to
0.
Comments: Uhh�this move sucks, as its basically fully restoring someone
at the cost of someone else. Not really worth it, as a Remedy + Elixir
more or less would do the same thing, and its only an extra turn, for
the cost of that person not dying. Avoid this move.
Rippler:
Effects: Swaps status of user and Target, both positive and negative.
Comments: This spell isn't all that useful, but it�s a lot of fun to
mess around with. Also the cause of lots of bugs, glitches, and other
odd mishaps (none of which are serious) Yeah, don't expect much of
this spell, beyond novelty. Due note that due to the new way Imp
immunity works in this game, this spell, like Bad Breath, will also fail
against Imp immune targets, thereby lowering the fun value of this spell.
Stone:
Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to one/multiple enemies. Does 8x
damage if enemies level is equal to the casters. Adds Confuse status.
Comments: This spell is weak unless you hit enemy whose level is equal
to Strago's, which to be blunt, happens almost never. Besides that?
It�s a damage spell with below 100% Accuracy, that adds confusion, and
its damage isn't anything special either. Easier to just use some
other damage moves. To be fair, its one of Strago's starting Lores, so
you shouldn't expect much.
Quasar:
Effects: Non Elemental Magic Damage to all enemies
Comments: This spell is like the Lore equivalent of Meteor. What do I
mean? Well, look at it this way; Meteor is to Ultima as Quasar is to
Grand Delta. The spell is not bad by itself, but it�s completely
outclassed in everyway by Grand Delta, and since its likely gotten
later, you'll probably never use this spell, beyond its nifty animation
anyway. As a side note, there is sometimes a rumor that this spell
lowers defensive stats or removes positive status effects, due to
idiotic mentioning in some FAQs and Players Guides (or bad wording in
that they simply meant it ignores defense.) This is COMPLETELY FALSE.
This is a pure damage spell, with no non-damage related side effects,
plain and simple, and its only special aspect is that it ignores defense.
Grand Delta:
Effects: Non Elemental Magic Damage to all enemies
Comments: Lore's answer to Ultima�only it�s about half as strong, making
it just plain solid instead of totally overpowered. Strago's source of
offense, late in the game, really, best to get this spell ASAP. Does
good damage, both for single targets and for groups, and ignores
everything that matters too (defense and reflect, mainly)
Self-Destruct:
Effects: Does damage equal to the users Current HP, the caster dies as
a result of this.
Comments: Seeing as this game isn't Pokemon (where Self-Destruct and its
more powerful brother Explosion have some strategic use), the move is
likely going to suck, right? Guess what, IT DOES! Strago's Worst Lore,
BY FAR. You do more damage with just about all the other damage Lores,
and they don't have this huge downside. At least Transfusion had a nifty
effect with its sacrifice, Self-Destruct doesn't even grant THAT much. I
guess it�s good if you like watching old men go BOOM!
Ending Thoughts:
Strago has a lot of variety, and seemingly a lot to bring to the table.
The problem is, though, a lot of what he can bring to the table ends up
fairly under whelming in practice, so he ends up taking backseat to
other characters who simply bring less to the table, but do much better
at what they have. Doesn't help that, again, Gogo pretty much can
render Strago obsolete for the most part. Not a very good character,
even if he seems like it on paper, which is a pity too, as Blue Magic
is pretty cool in general. As an interesting note, though, Strago
tends to LOVE challenges. Sounds odd, but it has to do with how
Challenges tend to inflate Lores one way or another, be it a Low Level
Game where Traveler, or in how a Natural Magic Game bans magic on most
characters, making a lot of those otherwise obsolete Lores serve a
purpose; its weird and unintuitive, but Strago goes from one of the
lesser characters to one of the more useful ones when a challenge occurs;
keep this in mind should you wish to try a challenge.
======
| RELM |
======
#Pictomancer#
Extra HP: 37
Extra MP: 18
Strength: 26
Speed: 34
Stamina: 22
Magic Power: 44
Attack: 11
Defense: 35
Evasion: 13%
Magic Defense: 30
Magic Evasion: 9%
Level Readjustment: +0
Desperation: Star Prism
Special Ability: Sketch/Control
Effects: Relm will make a "copy" of the enemy, and then one of two
commands will be used. These commands vary depending on enemy, and
aren't always the most sensible either (Example: Ice Dragon's sketch
can yield Firaga) Relm's chance of success is based on her level
compared to the enemies (if her level > the enemies level, then she
will never fail). Equipping a Beret increases chances by about 33%.
Not all enemies can be sketched. If FakeMustache is equipped, then
Sketch becomes Control. Control uses same chances of success for
Sketch, and chances can be increased by equipping a Hypno Crown. When
Relm uses Control on an enemy, Relm forfeits all her turns for the
enemies. When an enemies turn is prompted, one of up to 4 actions can
be used. Control is broken when either the controller dies, or the one
affected by the status is hit with a physical attack. What attacks can
be used from a controlled enemy vary from enemy to enemy, and are the
same as those the enemy can use in the Coliseum or under Confusion
status. Not all enemies can be controlled.
Character Analysis:
Relm is, oddly, kind of the opposite of Strago. No, I don't mean that
the little 10 year old virtuoso is a godly fighter (for all that this
would be awesome!) I mean in the sense that Relm has an utter lack of a
good skill set, but has great stats to compensate for it. The main
selling point she has is that highest Magic Power in the game; I'm not
sure the logic, plotwise, that lets Relm cast spells better than a Half
Esper like Terra, but whatever the reason (probably gameplay balance
purposes, which tend to ignore plot, cause lets face it, a Fighter Mage
like Terra beating a skillsetless Pure Mage like Relm would be slightly
unbalanced), Relm has the highest magic power in the game, especially
after you factor in all those yummy equips.
This alone makes Relm a pretty strong character. She might not seem it
at first though, given she has no magic, and unlike Strago, doesn't
have a supplement move to carry her before she learns any, so she does
start off pretty bad. Relm is totally reliant on the Magic skill set
to be worth anything, and this shows in some challenges (like Natural
Magic Games where Relm is practically worthless, being forced to rely
on her physical.) Thankfully, Bio at least is taught pretty fast, and
that's a good way to get her a head start fast, though she should learn
the Ara spells ASAP if you really want to take advantage of her. I
can't stress how much Relm needs magic to be worthwhile, because her
weapons suck (for...all that dual wielding Elemental Rods goes further
than you�d think); if you want to use Relm, she WILL need to be updated
on Magic.
Now, I know you're saying "so what's so good about that? She's using a
generic skill set!" To this I say Relm uses it better than damn near
any other character in the game, sans maybe Terra but I�ll get to why
later. That game best Magic Power and those mage equips aren't just for
show. She gets everything Strago gets on equipment, outside of the new
Dragon's Den item which largely is doesn't matter, and she adds a few
nice things to that list like the Mystery Veil for the early game, and
the Cat-Ear Hood, best helmet in the game outside of Gau's Dueling Mask,
later on. These decent equips help secure her as, at very least, NOT a
worthless character like some people immediately assume she is based off
how bad Sketch and Control are (they...really do suck.)
Now, Relm does have some serious flaws that need to be noted, however.
The first is that she�s a pure Mage, which while not bad in and of
itself, its quite crippling when you consider how late she joins. She
has no innate spells like Terra or Celes, and far less Esper time than
both (Especially Terra.) So she�s right off the bat a project character
which means she�s weak out of the gate. Furthermore, her big niche, the
Game best Magic Power, is undermined by this lack of Esper time. Terra
in most circumstances should pass her, even after the (mild) equip
boosts. While true, not every character is Terra, this lack of Esper
time means characters like Celes, Edgar, etc. will close the normal gap
Relm has some, and thus hindering her usage some. Furthermore, it�s hard
to justify using her over either Terra or Celes; both girls are similarly
good at magic thing once Esper time factors in, likely to know more
spells by the time Relm joins, and sort of crush her badly in defensive
worth.
What of Relm�s Dragon�s Den weapon then? It�s very much the same as
Strago�s Stardust Rod, in that it�s just a �Magus Rod Wannabe.� It does
give a nice big Speed Boost, admittedly, but that�s a losing trade
compared to the +30% Magic Evasion. It has an extra niche of randomly
casting Confuse on the target, but why you are using Relm�s physicals is
beyond me, and there isn�t really enough enemies that late for confusion
to be worth anything. All in all, another character who got the Short
End of the stick when it comes to the new equips, though to her credit,
she wasn�t someone who was in desperate need of a new weapon (though,
makes you wonder why Terra and Celes, the two characters with the best
overall equipment set in the game, got among the better Dragon�s Den
weapons, cause god knows they didn�t need them�)
So Relm is yet another character who, despite her horrid skills, ends
up a solid character. I'll grant she's probably the worst of the
females, but that doesn't mean she's necessarily bad. She makes a fine
mage, and you have a total of 4 character slots, sometimes 12 to fill,
she's definitely someone who deserves some actual time to raise, and
some party time as a result. Saying she's crappy should only occur due
to negligence, since she is a character who requires actual using to be
made solid, due to how the magic system works. If there is any character
who is FF6�s Project character, Relm is probably that.
Strategies for Relm throughout the game:
-When Relm first joins, give her an elemental Rod (doesn't matter which
one, as long as its not Poison) Since she knows no magic at the time,
she has no use for the Mythril Rod, and the average damage from an
Elemental Rod is considerably better than her damage from the Morning
Star, especially if she can hit a weakness. She might require Front
Row, unless it�s the IAF sequence though (where you�re forced into Pincer
Attacks, so Row is meaningless.)
-Never bother with Sketch, except in a very select few cases, after the
fight with Ultros. It�s just not worth it, trust me.
-Start teaching Relm offensive magic ASAP. Catoblepas gives Biox8 for
the fastest spell to learn, though the worst, it should be enough to
last her. For the more important spells (the Aras), either go with
Maduin for the fastest net learning rate, or go with Ifrit or Shiva to
learn one of them (Ideally Ifrit cause its Element is better, and the
other spells Shiva teaches can be learned idiotically fast anyway)
-Or if you prefer, you could teach her the Aras on the way TO the FC,
and in the IAF sequence, give Relm a Genji Glove, Hero's Ring, and two
Thunder Rods, and watch her smite. You'd be surprised what a little 10
year old girl built to be a mage can do with that combo when smacking
an elemental weakness when using a physical attack.
-Relm has a few Armor options for the WoB. Helmet is obviously Mystery
Veil, as that flat out kicks every other options ass, but armor is a
bit different. Tabby Suit is best balance between Defenses and stat
boosts, Gaia Gear gives best defensive boosts, while White Dress is
likely most useful if you want offenses. So�it�s between higher
defenses (and earth absorption), higher offenses, or a balance of both.
Chocobo Suit exists if you really want to raise her physical stats, but
probably isn't worth it.
-Ignore the Regal Gown in the WoR. Yes, you'd expect the armor to be
good, what with it being an Armor that only Relm can use, it must be
special, right? Truth be told, the Magus Robe, effectively obtainable at
the same time (eg before Relm re-joins), is likely overall more useful.
All things considered, Regal Gown's BEST use is to turn into a Minerva
Bustier for the adult women to use.
-Never give Relm a Brush. They, for the most part, are just for show,
and a Rod is better pretty much always. This even extends to the Angel
Brush from Dragon's Den, which is an inferior Magus Rod wannabe. If
you lack enough Magus Rods?
-Attempt to get a Cat-ear Hood for Relm ASAP. It's not hard, just need
to nab an Impartisan or Tortoise Shield, and bet those at the Coliseum.
This will make the consideration of using Relm a bit more serious.
-Grab a 2nd Magus Rod ASAP, that way, you won't have to fear problems
about using Relm w/ Strago or Gogo. Only method of getting more than
one Magus Rod before the Soul Shrine is by betting Heal Rods (which are
useless anyway) at the Coliseum (the first Magus Rod is gotten from Earth
Dragon.) Even if you don't mind using the Angel Brush as a supplement,
you get that late even by Dragon's Den standards, you'll want that second
one. Before that second Magus Rod? Give her the Swordbreaker, the
evasion boost will benefit her better than anything else, for the most
part, barring maybe that Angel Brush's Magic Power.
-Be sure to keep Relm's magic up to date. Don't think her high Magic
Power is going to save the likes of Blizzara throughout the whole WoR,
as those will eventually taper off. Make sure to at least give her one
high end spell. See the Frequently Asked Questions section for what I
mean by �High End spells� yet again.
Relm's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Magus Rod
Gladius
Angel Brush
Swordbreaker
Impartisan
Helmets:
Cat-ear Hood
Saucer
Armor:
Behemoth Suit
Magus Robe
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
End Game Set Ups for Relm:
Virtuoso with a Cannon:
Magus Rod
Aegis Shield/Genji Shield
Cat-ear Hood
Behemoth Suit
Soul of Thamasa
Standard Relm Set Up. Relm is a mage, take advantage of this and nuke
the competition with her game best Magic Power and high magic boosting
stats. For once, Thunder Shield isn't such a great choice since the
lower defensive stats
Like Father like Daughter:
Magus Rod
Force Shield
Cat-ear Hood
Mirage Vest
White Cape/Zephyr's Cloak
White Cape/Zephyr's Cloak
First off, I'll get this out of the way; whatever Relic you choose is
up to you. Zephyr's Cloak grants Evade, White Cape grants more
defenses, and Imp/Silence immunity (not that EITHER should hit you with
this set up.) Now that that's out of the way...this set up has 128%
Magic Evade, AND Automatic Image status, so she's temporarily
invincible like those 128%/128% set ups (which Relm can also get, but
requires Merit Award, Paladin's Shield AND Lightbringer.) Yes, other
characters (like anyone with Lightbringer and Shadow...) can pull this
off too, but figured Relm could use this set up more, since it requires
a bit less (even if Force Shields are limited until the Soul Shrine)
work. Worth noting that Strago and Gogo are only 1% and 2% away from
perfect Magic Evasion with this set up, so if you REALLY want, you can
give this to them too, though they use the considerably worse Priest's
Miter instead of the Cat-ear Hood, AND they have worse stats to begin
with, so Relm's using it more effectively anyway (Well...Gogo COULD
bring more to the table with Blitz and such, I suppose). Regardless, if
you want Relm to be a defensive character, this set up might be worth a
look. Regarding the name of this set up...well, I'll let you figure
that part out!
Miscellaneous Info on Relm:
-Not entirely Relm related, but sort of worth noting. The Sketch Bug
does *NOT* exist in this version of the game in anyway, shape or form.
So if you are worried about Sketch screwing up your game, then you have
nothing to worry about. Granted, there's still the issue of Sketch
being a really bad skill to begin with...
-If you did NOT save Shadow, remember that you must go to the Veldt
Cave BEFORE doing Owser's house in the WoR, to get Relm.
-Also remember Relm is needed to start the Hidon Side quest. I believe
you don't actually need to bring her to the dungeon itself, but unsure
on this, though she is required to actually start it, however.
-If you did not get Shadow, Relm will have her own dream in his place,
proving further an already obvious aspect (not saying what that is,
since it�s a spoiler, and by now, you should already know <_<)
-Relm is yet another character with natural 999 MP, and like the 3
preceding her, actually has theoretically 4 digits. Does it matter? No,
not really, but there are perfectionists out there.
-As a random benefit to using Relm, she gets her own unique version of
the Safety Bit, shared with one other character (if you've been reading
this FAQ, you should know who that is), in the Memento Ring. There are
two of these (...well, three, but why would you need a third?), and it�s
a good idea to take advantage of this as Safety Bits are not the
easiest thing to come across, and this is functionally the same exact
thing (if you're wondering, the second Memento Ring can either be
gotten by stealing from Wrexsoul, or by checking that little crevice in
the top floor of Strago's House on the left hand side. Relm COMES
EQUIPPED with the first, so it�s impossible to miss.)
-Relm can help a lot when it comes to teaching Lores, thanks to Sketch
and Control, so its not a bad idea to bring Relm with you when you go
Lore hunting.
-Cat-Ear Hood doubles the amount of Gil you get after a fight. Given
this helmet, Merit Award be damned, is unique to Relm, its worth
mentioning in Relm's section as such. This makes Relm the best
character by far to bring anytime you need extra cash. Or conversely,
anytime you just are fighting for whatever reason (Lores, Rage hunting,
etc), bringing Relm as a 4th character is never a bad idea, just for
that extra money. By taking advantage of this equip, she can halve the
time needed to raise that 500,000 for Excalipoor, or just simply
getting cash in general to buy other needed goodies (like, say,
ammunition for Shadow.)
-Relm is the ONLY optional character in the WoR to get an alternate scene
should she be recruited in the ending. If you recruit her, but not
Strago, her ending will be changed to compensate for the lack of Strago
(and said scene is somewhat more amusing than her standard one if you ask
me <_<.)
Skill sets:
Since Relm's skill set is based off the enemy she's fighting, I'm not
going to bother saying much here. Should you wish to see what enemies
can do with Control or Sketch, check the "Monster Statistics Guide" as
it explains fully, and coherently, what each monster has. Though note
that this FAQ is based off the SNES version, so it uses outdated names,
as well as misses enemies exclusive to Dragon's Den.
I suppose I can give a quick explanation on their algorithms though
(these won�t be EXACTLY how they work, but yield a good estimate.)
-Effectively, the Rate of success is Relm�s Level in relation to her
enemies. So a level 40 Relm will have about 80% success rate on a level
50 enemy.
-If the �Beret� is equipped on Relm, the Sketch Rate is increased by
about 33%; in the above example, Sketch would now have a 120% Hit Rate
(IOWs, it will never fail.) The same applies to Hypno Crown and Control,
for that matter.
-If Sketch is successful, it chooses one of two attacks predetermined by
the enemy sketched, a common one (75% chance) or a rare one (25% chance.)
If the move does damage, the attack is based off Relm�s Level but the
enemies respective stat (This is actually why Sketch in general never
does good damage with any regular damage move. Enemy levels are
typically higher than your party�s levels and vice versa in the case of
stats, so Sketch takes the worst of BOTH worlds.)
-Control�s actions are the same as those that the enemy can use when
under Confusion/Coliseum. The attacks the enemy uses are the same as if
the enemy used the attack themselves, hence completely based off their
own stats.
-There are some enemies who are flat out immune to Sketch and/or Control,
and thus will always fail.
Naturally, if Gogo is using either ability, replace all instances of Relm
with Gogo.
Ending Thought:
If Strago is a prime example of how a great skill set can still yield a
mediocre character, Relm is the opposite, showing how a bad special
skill does not equate a character to being bad either. Relm
compensates her bad skill set by having great all around stats (oh
noes! Low Strength and weak weapons (Attack wise) on a pure
mage!), decent equipment options, and that nice Magic Skill set to make
use of. Sure, its universal, but Relm works better with it than most
characters; she just takes a bit of raising. Though, it is worth noting
that Relm ends up being nigh useless in many challenges, since a lot of
them have restrictions that just kill her use...which further proves
she's the opposite of her Grandfather, and not just in the sense of
jailbait little girl vs. ugly old man <_<. Regardless, if you're doing a
challenge, Relm will probably not be a good option, for all that she's
not bad in a normal game. Like I eluded to before, however, Relm�s still
got that initial hurdle to work over where she starts off weak, and even
after that, its hard to find uses for her over the other girls. A half
decent character, in any event, who often gets overlooked for a number of
reasons.
========
| SETZER |
========
#Gambler#
Extra HP: 46
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 36
Speed: 32
Stamina: 32
Magic Power: 29
Attack: 18
Defense: 48
Evasion: 9%
Magic Defense: 26
Magic Evasion: 1%
Level Readjustment: +0
Desperation: Red Card
Special Ability: Slots/Gil Toss
Effects: When used, slots will appear. You are prompted to then press
A three times row. Depending on timing, a different object will
appear. Whatever is in the middle is the object of concern. If the
three items match, then an attack based on what that is (for example, 3
Diamonds = Prismatic Flash) occurs. If they don't match, the attack
"Mysidian Rabbit" is used. Some attacks are rigged in your favor,
others are rigged against you. In some cases, the game flat out
doesn't allow you to use certain abilities against some enemies.
If Setzer has "Heiji's Jitte" relic equipped, Slots is replaced with
Gil Toss. Gil Toss does damage based on how much gold is thrown. The
amount of thrown is users Level * 30, and damage to Gil thrown ratio is 2
to 1 (So 2 damage for every Gil thrown.) Note that Gil Toss splits
damage among all enemies evenly, contrast to most Split Damage moves
where damage is just halved if targeting 2 or more enemies.
Character Analysis:
Ah, Setzer. The original Gambler of the FF series...even if there have
been all of like two after him or something. Regardless, Setzer is a
rather interesting character. His stats are, as you can tell,
relatively unimpressive, as he excels in nothing. This is ok, though,
as his attacks are strong enough to get buy early on, and his later
moves (Fixed Dice, and to a lesser extent, Gil Toss) ignore his stats
anyway. This makes Setzer a pretty unique character. Furthermore,
should it matter, ALL of his unique weapons ignore row, so there is
never a reason to use him in the Front Row, unless you gave him the
Gladius or something.
One neat thing about Setzer is he can use all the standard Heavy Class
equipment (why they chose a Gambler of all people to be a heavy armor
user, I don�t know�), as well as getting most of the Light Armor equips,
missing out mainly on the Power Sash. This makes his defensive stats
better than you think, as well as keeps his armor options open. Granted,
this is nowhere near the same armor variety as, say, Terra and Celes, as
far as quality goes, but it�s still not half bad at all. His weapon
selection, though, isn't exactly inspiring until the Fixed Dice; it�s
essentially just a bunch of ranged weapons like Locke gets, except no
Hawkeye in the mix. Well, ok, he can use the Man Eater and Gladius for
some minor defensive boosts, but by that point, Slots aren't going to be
doing enough damage, and Gil Toss is just a waste of cash and a Relic
slot.
That would be Setzer's flaw; in the second half of the game, he's kind
of lacking in anything that stands out. That is unless you don't have
qualms in prematurely entering the final dungeon and raiding it some
(as in, go as far as you can into the dungeon without fighting any
bosses), which is where Setzer picks up his saving grace, the Fixed Dice.
I can't emphasize this enough; Setzer without his Fixed Dice is a pretty
sad character. It�s similar to Locke without the Valiant Knife, except
there is no Lightbringer to fall back on. So if you want to use Setzer
for something worth a damn, he WILL need those Fixed Dice.
Though, Fixed Dice alone aren't quite enough; that's really only half
of the equation. Setzer also needs the Master's Scroll as well. Fixed
Dice aren't that strong by themselves, HOWEVER, they ignore the
Master's Scroll Damage Halving Penalty per hit, so unlike most weapons,
they actually Quadruple in power, and due to how Fixed Dice work,
multiple uses helps offset the randomness some. In fact, one really
high roll on the Fixed Dice WILL make that attack worth it, even if the
other 3 rolls are all crappy. That's one thing you have to watch out
for granted; Setzer's not what you call reliable. On one hand, he can
dish out insane damage if you're lucky, on the other hand, he can do
piss poor damage as well. It�s all a game of chance; what else did you
expect from a Dice weapon? So what about his new weapon, the Final
Trump, from Dragon's Den? This weapon is kind of like Setzer's version
of Terra's Apocalypse, except significantly weaker, no evasion boosts,
and long ranged (also lacks Lightbringer to along with it for Genji Glove
set ups). Its alright if you want to give the Master's Scroll to someone
else, and still use Setzer, I suppose, but generally, Fixed Dice are
better.
So what about before Fixed Dice? Well, Slots are probably strong
enough to keep Setzer afloat for a while, especially in the WoB where
they are downright strong. Lots of people will hype Sabin's Rising
Phoenix and Aura Cannon Blitzes as being high damage, which I suppose
is alright...however they then will state that Slots are weak because
all they can pull off is "Chocobo Stampede" and "Prismatic Flash" (ok,
so I've heard "Chocobop" and "7 Flush" more often cause of the SNES
translation, but that's not the point!) This really is where the logic
falls short. Elemental concerns aside, Prismatic Flash is flat out
stronger than Aura Cannon, and against multiple targets, Prismatic Flash
is equal to Rising Phoenix. What about Chocobo Stampede? That move
identical to Meteor (a respected spell in general) in everyway...with one
serious restriction in being unable to hit fliers, though. This isn't
TOO bad, except that when you get Setzer, most enemies are in fact flying
for the next few dungeons (like most of the Floating Continent enemies),
so its actually a lot more limited in use, sadly. These two are worth
noting mainly cause if you learn the timing of slots, they are never
rigged against you...in fact, they're often rigged FOR you. Higher end
Slots are a bit tougher to pull off, though one noteworthy one is Dive
Bomb, which isn't rigged against you too often, and is pretty strong
(we're talking stronger than Aga spells here, and this is only the WoB!)
Anything above that though is typically not worth trying for, since the
chances of getting them are a bit too low to be worth it.
All in all, Setzer's a pretty neat character, though he requires you to
actually put some effort into him. Which is to say, actually bother
doing an early Kefka's Tower raid (in fairness, Fixed Dice are early in
Team 1's route, so you can pull this off early with some luck, if you
don't feel like grabbing Mog early), and learning the timing on his
slots. He has Gil Toss too, but that's not really worth the Relic
Slot, or the Gil spent for that matter, so it�s probably a better idea
to avoid that. Setzer should not be completely overlooked regardless
though, as he's not a bad character so long as you're willing to go those
few extra yards.
Strategies for Setzer throughout the game:
-Put Setzer in the back Row. Besides the Gladius and Man Eater,
EVERYTHING Setzer has worth noting does the same damage in the back
row. There's no reason to put him in the front row, EVER.
-When Setzer first joins, start teaching him Healing magic. He has
enough offense from the get go with Slots, might as well have him able
to cover another area.
-Probably best to ignore Setzer's weapons for the most part, as Slots
tends to be better almost all the time, and his weapons are just a
waste of money.
-As with most characters who have this option, stick with Gaia Gear for
Setzer's armor in the WoB.
-Don't bother buying an extra Diamond Armor for Setzer when he first
joins, assuming you already have one on Celes and Edgar. This is
because you get a Crystal Mail in Daryl's Tomb anyway, which is superior;
just keep Setzer with Gaia Gear or whatever he was using before the
World's Collapse. No, its not that good, but it saves you some cash.
Also, in general, I recommend against buying Crystal Mails, as they're a
negligible improvement over the Diamond Armor, yet you're shelling out a
fair amount of cash for them.
-And as with most male Force Armor users, Setzer should use that as his
choice of armor, at least if you have enough available. Chances are,
though, you won't be using an Edgar, Cyan, Locke, and Setzer team
though (Celes and Terra have a much better "Consolation" option in the
Minerva Bustier (which is arguably better, but lets not get into that),
hence why this is the only team where it really matters THAT much.)
Though, thanks to Dragon's Den, and later Soul Shrine, you can get as
many Force Armors as you want, so this becomes a non-factor later.
-Sshould you lack the Fixed Dice, and are using Setzer, Man Eater
or Gladius should be his weapon of choice, if only for their defensive
applications. Death Tarot and Venom Darts have some applications with
instant death (especially Venom Darts since their instant death is
compatible with the Master's Scroll), but its probably just easier to
cast Death or Banish or something.
-As soon as you get Fixed Dice, give them to Setzer, and never give him
anything else. They are his best weapon by far. It�s a good idea to
raid Kefka's tower early for these alone. Only time Setzer shouldn't be
using Fixed Dice is if you want a temporary defensive boost on turns he's
using healing (which is probably more micromanaging than its worth), or
if you prefer the steady damage of the Final Trump.
-Setzer, like Celes, Sabin and Edgar, has the advantage of being
obtained BEFORE the Falchon in the WoR, meaning he can get some quick
extra work in. Use that time for him to your advantage.
-I should get this out of the way as well; NEVER use Dice. They are a
bad weapon. They work like Fixed Dice, except only use two dice
instead of three, and lack that damage bonus on triplets by extension.
Dice are NOT a good secondary weapon for, say, Genji Glove + Master's
Scroll (which you shouldn't be using anyway), to use with Fixed Dice
just cause they act like them and ignore Master's Scroll penalties.
Its a flat out bad weapon, and should be avoided.
-Until Soul Shrine, I advise you not use Setzer and Locke in the same
team, since they both want Master's Scroll and there is only one of
them until you get there. Of course, if you are using Locke for the
purposes of, say, Lightbringer, you probably aren't using Master's
Scroll (or rather, you SHOULDN'T)
Setzer's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Fixed Dice
Man Eater
Death Tarot
Venom Darts
Gladius
Impartisan
Final Trump
Helmets:
Priest's Miter
Circlet
Red Cap
Genji Helm
Green Beret
Saucer
Armor:
Genji Armor
Force Armor
Reed Cloak
Mirage Vest
End Game Set Ups for Setzer:
Heart of the...Dice?:
Fixed Dice
Aegis Shield/Genji Shield/Thunder Shield
Red Cap/Genji Helm
Force Armor/Genji Armor
Master's Scroll
Like a lot of characters who can use Force Armor and Genji Armor, its a
tough call to say which is better, which leads to the usual "what
Shield and Helmet you want also depends on what you are aiming for."
I'll be blunt though; Fixed Dice ignore Strength, so Red Cap and Genji
Armor lose a bit of use there, though they still boost speed some and
thus, work for that purpose. A nice balanced set up that takes
advantage of what Setzer is good at. Just remember that for your second
relic, Fixed Dice ignore logic and such, so a Hero Ring wouldn�t be too
helpful, so probably best to opt for something defensive like Ribbon or
Miracle Shoes.
Gambling Imp...OF DOOM!!!:
Fixed Dice
Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
Master's Scroll
Yes, like the Imp Set up listed much earlier, except Setzer's own
personal take on it. This works because Fixed Dice ignore anything
stat related outside of the users Level, which Imp doesn't effect
anyway. As such, you can suddenly turn Setzer into an automatic tank
while he still makes use of the Fixed Dice. Usual Imp downsides of
making the character on dimensional and limiting your Status immunity
exists, though, the latter isn't as bad as it sounds, as things like
Berserk actually HELP you in this set up, while things like Blind and
Silence (especially good since Silence immunity is on the same relic,
the White Cape, as Imp Immunity anyway), doesn't do squat, so its only
a select few that matter now. A nice fun set up, if counter intuitive,
just remember to make Setzer an Imp before you use this, obviously. Like
above, a defensive Relic would be ideal here, though DO NOT use White
Cape or Ribbon, as that will remove Imp Status, thus lowering Setzer�s
defenses dramatically.
You�ve Activated My Trap Card!:
Final Trump
Final Trump/Fixed Dice
Red Cap
Mirage Vest/Genji Armor/Force Armor
Genji Glove
If you don�t like tossing the Master�s Scroll on Setzer, and can get your
hands on a second Final Trump, then this set up may be worth using. If
you don�t want to get a second Final Trump, just use Fixed Dice and hope
for the best, though Fixed Dice without Master�s Scroll is a tad
disappointing, but figured it couldn�t hurt to acknowledge (might end up
beating a second Final Trump anyway, but naturally, unreliable). Anyway,
Red Cap is tossed in for the extra HP and Strength. Regarding his
Armors, Force Armor covers magic defensive angle with elemental resists
and Magic Evasion, Genji Armor boosts damage a bit more with +5 Strength
and raises defenses the highest, Mirage Vest mostly just to work away
that crippling defense stat, assuming you can end the fight fast. Damage
isn�t too bad, but it�s a bit lacking in defenses, contrast to similar
set ups by Terra who doesn�t suffer quite as much (and does more damage
to boot), though he does keep Back Row. Again, I don�t really suggest
this set up, it�s mostly just there in case you want to give that
Master�s Scroll to someone else, but still want to make use of Setzer.
Miscellaneous Info on Setzer:
-You can actually rig slots so to speak. Or rather, unrig the slots
that are rigged against you. Basically, use a very specific
Combination of moves in a fight, and now slots won't be rigged against
you, ever. Yes, this includes Joker's Death. Mind, you still have to
know the timing, but hey, its nice, innit? I believe the easiest
unrigging method is just use an Echo Herb.
-A way to cheese out slots is to press Start while they are rolling,
and when you finally see the thing you want ABOVE the marker, hold the
A button, and unpause the game. Unless the slots are rigged against
you, this will pretty much always get you what you want.
-There�s a way to rule out the rigging of slots entirely, such that you
can get whatever you want so long as your timing is right. Basically,
have a character start using some spell. When the name appears and they
go into casting, start Slots up. From what I gather, if you do this
right, it will automatically undo the rigging and you can get ability you
want�including Joker Death. Timing is everything here, but it lets
Setzer be a cruel person if you don�t mind cheesing out what was probably
an unintended little gimmick.
-As a random side note, using Joker Death apparently counts as using
Lv. 5 Death, at least as far as Lores go, so using this can teach
Strago Lv. 5 Death if you so wanted.
-Fixed Dice, unlike other Defense Ignoring weapons and abilities, do
NOT ignore Multipliers, oddly. This means it can take the benefits of
Berserk (especially good if using the Imp set up), and Trance (requires
Merit Award obviously) if you want, to really wreck some havoc. Pity it
cannot be given to someone with Rage anymore (both Gau AND Gogo can't
use Merit Award), as Catscratch Fixed Dice use to be fun as well.
-Setzer will never use Slots in the Coliseum. This is a good thing, as
it means, if you were careful on what spells to teach him, he can
really come in handy for winning specific fights, and you won't have to
worry about some idiotic actions.
-Setzer is the 3rd and last character required to get in the WoR!
-Setzer is one of two characters (the other being Terra) whose own
personal ending in the montage has no variants. This is because he�s a
required recruit, and unlike Celes and Edgar, shares his scene with no
Optional Characters.
Skill set:
Setzer's slots are all based on what you get. I'll be listing the
options in order of difficulty (so first is easy to get, the last is
nigh impossible), per se.
Mysidian Rabbit:
Obtained From: Any Failure
Effects: Negligible Healing to whole party, recovers from Blind,
Poison, and Sleep
Comments: Uhh�it�s a failure, you expect them to reward you with
something? Yeah, basically, you get what you earned, more or less.
Prismatic Flash:
Obtained From: 3 Diamonds
Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to all
Comments: Rather decent, actually, for one of the easiest Slots to get.
Good for ST damage, due to hits high Spell Power, and MT damage isn't
too shabby either (Rising Phoenix level) Should be Setzer's primary
Offense in the WoB.
Chocobo Stampede:
Obtained From: 3 Chocobos
Effects: Non elemental Magic damage to all, misses flying targets
Comments: A variation of Prismatic Flash. This one is centered more
around crowd control, having much lower spell power, but ignores
defense AND Split Damage. It's basically Meteor, actually, which is
rather nice. Its main flaw is that it misses anything that has float
status (annoying on the FC), though. Pretty solid move, though,
considering how easy it is to get.
Dive Bomb:
Obtained From: 3 Airships
Effects: Non Elemental Magic Damage to all
Comments: Nasty move, if you can learn its timing. This move is
SOMETIMES rigged against you, but more often than not isn't. Can be a
bit hard to learn its timing, but it'll pay off in the end. The move
is easily one of the most damaging attacks in the WoB, and isn't half
bad in the WoR (Though, not stellar)
Random Summon:
Obtained From: 3 Bars
Effects: Summons a random Esper except Odin, whether you have the Esper
or not doesn't matter.
Comments: This is when getting moves is harder than its worth. This
likely isn't that hard, but, it's too unreliable to be worth using. Its
only real use is for morphing, actually, as it'll let Gogo Mime
Ragnarok's summon over and over again (something he can't do with
Magicite Shards due to how they work), if you want to morph some hard
to get items (like the Cursed Ring!) Generally speaking, I wouldn't
bother with this beyond novelty, especially since you can get the Sword
and Esper in the same file due to clear game.
Mega Flare:
Obtained From: 3 Dragons
Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to all
Comments: This is, to be blunt, Setzer using the Bahamut Esper for
Free. The attack in and of itself is fine, but its just the odds of
getting are too low for it be useful. Shame, too, as this move is
basically his best Slots for raw damage, being better than Grand Delta
(Strago's best Lore) in everyway.
Joker Death (Good Version):
Obtained From: 3 7s
Effects: Kills entire enemy party, regardless if immune to instant
death or not (yes, this works even on the final boss)
Comments: This is the best Slots, hands down�at least as far as effects
go. What's its problem? The chances of getting this are incredibly
low, and the game even sometimes doesn�t let you use it in some fights
at that. Though, should you be lucky enough to get this, your
opposition is gone. This is nice if you are patient enough to dual
abuse slot tricks (the Pause + Accept method combined with Derigging
slots)
Joker Death (Bad Version):
Obtained From: 2 7s and a Bar
Effects: Kills both the enemies side and your own
Comments: This has the same likely hood to happen as the above�only
It�s a good thingin this case. This being used is a game over, period
(unless you have Reraise, maybe), you want to avoid this like the plague.
Yeah, basically, this is a NEGATIVE slots.
Ending Thoughts:
Setzer has a fair amount of potential, though how much of that
potential appears depends on how much you're willing to give him.
Requiring some rare items like the Master's Scroll does hurt his
flexibility use some, so you'll have to set parties up wisely if you
want him to be effective, and he needs you to actually grab those Fixed
Dice earlier than you usually would as well. All in all, he�s a decent,
if a bit unreliable, character.
=====
| MOG |
=====
#Moogle#
Stats:
Extra HP: 39
Extra MP: 16
Strength: 29
Speed: 36
Stamina: 26
Magic Power: 35
Attack: 16
Defense: 52
Evasion: 10%
Magic Defense: 36
Magic Evasion: 12%
Level Readjustment: +5
Desperation: Moogle Rush
Special ability: Dance
Effects: Adds "Dance" status to Mog. Under Dance status, Mog can use
one of four attacks, what attacks vary on each dance. All Dances have
frequencies spread out between 7/16 for first attack, 6/16 for second,
2/16 for the third, and 1/16 for the rarest. Dances have a 50% chance
of success upon initial attempt, and once successful, the dance will
never fail again unless Mog dies and then uses a different dance (The
Terrain changes when Mog uses a "Dance" successfully), UNLESS on Home
Terrain, in which case, said dance never fails. Dances are obtained by
finishing battles on new terrain with Mog in your party (yes, he can be
dead) All Dances are considered magical.
Character Analysis:
As the first playable Moogle in the FF series, Mog had to leave quite a
positive mark for his race! Well, one thing Mog does get credit for is
having next to no logic when it comes to how his character was made up.
Lets analyze him for a second. Its a little small stuffed animal, in
essence, ok, that explains the low Strength...yet his Attack
somehow is higher than that of a seasoned adventurer in Locke. Also,
despite being so small, his defense is the second highest (non-Umaro) in
the game, which normally would imply low Magic Defense�except he�s #1 in
that as well! Decent Magic Power�but he�s best used as a fighter when
all is said an done. Also, you�d think he�d use some small simple weapon
considering what he is�but his weapon of choice is a Spear, probably the
largest weapon class in the game. Oh yeah, normally, you�d think he�d
have next to no combat experience, so he should join underleveled, right?
Nope! He joins at 5 LEVELS ABOVE average, the highest of any (permanent)
character in the game. Needless to say, �O_o� somes up Mog well. To
make matters worse regarding the randomness, Mog's equipment is all over
the place, outside of his weapons. He can use the Golden Shield, for
example, but none of the other "exclusive" shields (Heavy Shield, Diamond
Shield, and Crystal Shield), as well as the other Golden Equips, yet
there is no armor upgrade he gets beyond the Diamond Vest until his
ultimate armor, the Snow Scarf, which turns the smallest member of the
cast into your best tank by far. Um, yeah, Mog isn't what I'd call an
easy to classify character, so its best we just move onto how he works or
something...
When you first get Mog in the WoB, his big thing will be his dances.
They're actually pretty brutal at this point, since they often have big
MT damage that can nail weaknesses, full healing, and tend to be on the
home terrain often, so the stumble aspect doesn't kick in. Combine
that with a decent equipment selection for the time, Mog is a canon
with no real flaws beyond lack of controllability. He also can double
as a Mage, being able to use the Magus Hat and having a decent base
Magic Power score, so teaching him a few attack spells wouldn't hurt
either. Lastly, he tends to be an incredible tank at first due to
joining 5 levels above everyone else, giving him a nice big HP
advantage, as well as a damage boost to boot. This does have the
downside for less Esper boosts in the long run granted, though the
difference isn't as big as you might think, since many characters will
lose those some of those levels anyway due to Thamasa, let alone they�ll
all have caught up by the WoR, so realistically only a few characters
have a true edge on him in this regard.
However, Mog's method of playing kind of shifts dramatically in the
WoR. Here, you'll likely be using him as a Dragoon, similar to Edgar,
so he's actually playing like a Fighter now, less like a mage. Combine
that with a incredible defense score, suddenly Mog's a force to
consider using...in completely different ways than he was before. Its
because of this sudden change in worth, and how Dances go from godly
to, well, crappy pretty rapidly that a lot of people will consider Mog
as a bad character. However, this is also clear that these people
never got the Snow Scarf, one of Mog's big things, as they'll also
claim he has bad equipment. Snow Scarf alone, combined with spears not
totally sucking ass, make for a decent enough selection of equipment
(also makes it easy to figure out what he wants <_<.) In fact, you'd
be surprised how many people think Mog's only purpose in this game is
for the sake of the Molulu's Charm (unique Relic for Mog that stops
Random Encounters entirely), and even go as far as to get that Gold
Hairpin instead of him as such (which...is kind of silly; FF6 is not a
game where MP is a big deal, especially thanks to Osmose.)
Like Edgar, though, Mog's new Dragon's Den weapon isn't really a spear,
for Jump purposes. Gungnir only gets the 1.5x damage that other
weapons get, instead of 2x damage like Spears get. This naturally
kills a good amount of its use. On the other hand, its also Mog's best
weapon for boosting Magic Power, so it still has some on paper use for
Mog should he have been raised as a Mage, so its not worthless the way
Longinus is, though you'll probably find yourself using Radiant Lance
or Holy Lance more often, since those two are overall better. Do note
that Mog being raised as a Mage isn�t necessarily a bad idea, as he can
serve the purpose of a durable Magical cannon if you wanted, and his
Magic Power is competent enough to do the job, though, don�t expect the
damage values from him as you would from someone like Relm. If you�re
using Mog as a mage, its cause you wanted a spell caster who can take
hits exceptionally well, not cause he can dish out big damage (this isn�t
to say his damage sucks, of course, just doesn�t stand out.)
So Mog is a pretty damn good character...if you know how to use him.
Knowing what Dance is the right one to use makes him a beast in the
first part of the game, and second part of the game, he makes a scary
Dragoon whose also a bit of a scary tank at the same time. Do not
underestimate the power of the little guy, even if the mascot
characters often end up crappy in the end, as Mog is clearly not
something to be taken lightly...even if he himself weighs a rather
small amount.
Strategies for Mog throughout the game:
-When you first get Mog, in the save Terra sequence, De-equip him.
This way, you can get an early Mythril Shield, and Mythril Pike. Note
that Mog comes back with this anyway when he rejoins later, so you
really are getting free stuff here (unlike Shadow's Ninja Gear which is
mostly just equip transferring.)
-You should always grab Mog instead of the Gold Hairpin. Yes, halving
MP costs sounds nice, but consider it takes up a whole relic slot, and
that you can't grab Water Harmony outside of one chance in the WoR
(Leviathan fight), and Mog loses even MORE Esper levels than before
(when he joins in the WoR, his Level readjustment won't factor in if
you got him early on) if you grab him late. That, and Mog is actually
a decent character here to boot.
-Shove Mog in the Back Row, and give him Dragoon Boots. That relic
should be somewhat a staple on Mog. Early on, Hero's Ring is likely
the best option (boosts Jump's damage, AND his dance's damage), later,
better off with Dragon Horn, so his optimal damage (Jump) increases.
-NEVER give Mog the Genji Glove. Dragoon Boots will result in the same
thing, and doesn't sacrifice a shield.
-Only reason to give Mog that Gladius is if you want Mog to have extra
defenses. Though, honestly, with that 255 Defense score, something
tells me Mog won't care about physical evade much. Suppose it MIGHT
matter if you give Mog a Force Shield or something. Regardless, Holy
Lance is a better choice, since its a spear, and has random Holy
castings as well.
-When you first get Mog in the WoB, I suggest taking a quick dance hike
to grab all the dances you can get (all but Snowman Rondo are
available) ESPECIALLY Water Harmony, as the area coming up (the Sealed
Cave), to be blunt, its not very fond of that dance. (though, Mog does
have 50% chance of failure, being not the home dance)
-Speaking of which, for the Sealed Cave, Mog's best option is likely
Water Harmony. Unreliable, yes, but when he hits with El Nino, he hits
HARD. Though, Twilight Requiem isn't bad if you are fighting nothing but
Zombones (Since the only thing they are immune to is Poison Frog, the
rarest of Dusk Requiem's dances)
-IAF Sequence, Wind Rhapsody hands down. Provides not only consistent
Healing, but Wind Slash can kill those fights in one casting
(Earrings/Hero's Rings can help insure this further) Plasma, while rare
and not favorable, WILL kill whatever it hits, and works nicely on Air
Force to boot. Cockatrice?too rare to consider, be it positive or
negative. Most evil part is, this dance is the home dance too, so no
real flaws into using it.
-Floating Continent, Earth Blues all the way. This dance is just
brutal, in general, and it�s the home dance too, should be quite
obvious as far as why to use it (it does have a flaw in that if Mog
uses Sonic Boom on an enemy immune to Instant Death, it�s a wasted
turn, but thems the breaks)
-Be sure to get the Snow Scarf before you are serious about using Mog
in the WoR.
-Keep Mog with a Holy Lance (which you should try to get ASAP) or
Radiant Lance at all times. Again, despite what it may seem, Gungnir
is NOT a spear in terms of Jump. Only time you should be using Gungnir
is if you need a magic boost on Mog. Otherwise, stick with the other
high end spears.
Mog's Ultimate and Noteworthy equips:
Weapons:
Holy Lance
Radiant Lance
Gladius
Gungnir
Helmets:
Genji Helm
Priest's Miter
Circlet
Red Cap
Green Beret
Armor:
Snow Scarf
Reed Cloak
Ideal End game Set ups for Mog:
Kain only wishes he was this Awesome:
Radiant Lance/Holy Lance
Genji Shield/Thunder Shield/Aegis Shield
Red Cap/Genji Helm
Snow Scarf
Dragoon Boots
Dragon Horn
Ok, first off, your priority should be to hit 255 Defense; perfect
defense means Mog takes 1 damage from all physicals, 0 if he's in the
back row. How you go about this is up to you. The ways that work
above are Red Cap/Genji Shield, or Genji Helm with the other two
shields. Red Cap combo grants more HP and some more damage, while the
other set ups yield more elemental resistance (Thunder Shield + Snow
Scarf stops 3 Elements and halves a 4th, if you're wondering) or more
magic defense; it depends on what you want. Which Lance you want
depends on how lucky you feel; Holy Lance randomly casts Holy, but
Radiant Lance does more damage otherwise, its a tough call. And yes,
this is a cheap shot at FF4 Kain in that his whole Dragoon hype thing
is being outclassed by a little white fur ball, even in the department of
tanking <_<
Magic Tank in the form of a Moogle:
Gungnir
Genji Shield
Circlet
Snow Scarf
Soul of Thamasa
Gives Mog the best Magic Power he can get while still keeping that 255
Defense. If you're raising Mog a mage, then this would be the set up
you want. Naturally, you might not have enough Soul of Thamasas to go
around, so make sure someone else doesn�t want it more before handing it
to him.
He Keeps Going and Going and nothing outlasts the energizer...Moogle?:
Gungnir
Paladin's Shield
Circlet/Red Cap
Snow Scarf
Ribbon
Safety Bit
This Set Up makes Mog damn near impossible to kill. I'm not a fan of
wasting that Paladin's Shield, but in this case, Mog is making special
use of it, per se. He's got perfect defense so Physicals can't get him,
total immunity to Elemental attacks due to Paladin's Shield, Ribbon +
Safety Bit means that the only status that can hit him is Stop (which
can't be guarded outside of Reflect Ring in some cases) and he has good
Magic Defense (which you could also cast Shell mid-flight to bolster if
need be) for the non-elemental Magic. Only thing that can do real damage
to him are the occasional Defense Ignoring spells that are non-elemental,
really, or those rare Specials that are Instant Death related, and some
of those run into decent Evasion and Magic Evasion anyway. What Helmet
you want depends upon some one factor; this set up, Mog is going to act
as a Mage since, well, his physical damage is not going to impress you,
so Gungnir was kind of obvious here. Circlet will give you the boost
to Magic Power, though, Red Cap will help push the Set Ups Defensive
purposes higher, giving that 25% HP Boost, to help defend against some
of those few defense ignoring moves you can't stop otherwise. This set
up really deserves a look at if you don't mind giving Mog your
Paladin's Shield, as its a not an easy thing for most enemies to
overcome (though, don't think it alone will save you against the likes
of Kaiser Dragon.)
Mog Laugh at your Puny Magics!:
Gungnir
Force Shield
Saucer
Reed Cloak
White Cape
White Cape
You know its odd; for all that I am not a fan of Gungnir much, I seem
to be using it a lot in these set ups <_<. Gungnir's use here is
obvious; Mog has his Relics taken up, so he's going to be acting
as a Mage. The concept behind this set up is Mog has 255 Magic
Defense, thus making him immune to all Magic that doesn't ignore
defense, while also bolstering a nice 82% Magic Evasion to stop those
pesky status spells or occasional Flare spells either. The set up
especially asks Mog to be a Mage cause he has no real physical defense
at all. It is worth noting, however, that if Mog uses a Tortoise Shield
instead of Force Shield, he'll have 254 Magic Defense, loses 20% Magic
Evasion, HOWEVER, gets 30% Evasion, which makes him not totally
defenseless against physicals, though this also means he doesn't halve
certain attacks like Meltdown or Flare Star, losing Force Shield's
Elemental Resistance.
Inverted Defenses Ahoy!:
Gungnir/Radiant Lance/Holy Lance
Force Shield/Tortoise Shield
Saucer
Snow Scarf
Normally, set ups tend to have higher defense than magic defense, at
least numerically, or conversely, they'll have incredible magic defense
with really bad defense, at least assuming none of these set ups are
evasion twinking in which case, things get messy. This set up though
has impressive Magic Defense while retaining at least passable
defense�kind of the opposite of normal balanced set ups. You'll note
the only thing here that grants defense is the Snow Scarf, and Mog's
defense still is adequate, to give you an idea of just how sick that
thing is, and it still has a very good Magic Defense score. Force
Shield vs Tortoise Shield is tough call. On one hand, Force Shield has
better magic defenses in everyway, and adds elemental resistances and
Shell status. Tortoise Shield, however, adds 30% Evasion, which helps
cover the physical end, which is definitely the weaker side of the two.
As far as what weapon to use�well, how are you using Mog? If Dragoon
set up, Radiant Lance or Holy Lance would be ideal (which of those
comes down to personal preference, as usual), if Mog is being used as a
Mage, then go with Gungnir. Naturally, what Relics you use depends on
how you're using Mog, so this is a very generalized set up.
Miscellaneous Info about Character:
-Mog is required for getting Umaro. This means that if you want
everything, you must use Mog at least at some point regardless
-Molulu Charm only works for one party, as a reminder. Mind, it helps
turn things like Phoenix Cave into a one party area, effectively, since
only one party is fighting, while Mog runs right through
-When Mog uses a dance, you lose control of him completely, unless he
dies. Keep this in mind before using Dance with Mog.
-And Mog is yet another character who naturally maxes out MP at level
99! So yeah, no wasting Esper levels, consciously anyway, with MP
Boosts, as they're pointless for perfectionist reasons here.
-If you're curious, Mog can actually max both evasion stats out as
well, if you don't mind using both Merit Award and Paladin's Shield.
Not that I suggest this due to what it requires, but just know its
there (check out, say, Terra or Locke's maxed evasion set ups, and just
replace Zephyr's Cloak with Merit Award.)
Skill set:
Below are a list of Mog's dances, how to get them, and what they
contain. (note that abilities are being listed in order of Frequency)
Note that since this isn't an algorithm FAQ, I'm giving a
generalization of abilities only (much like any other character.) IF
you want to see exactly what each dance does, check out Master Zed's
Attack Guide.
Wind Rhapsody
Home Terrain: Plains, Coliseum, the Veldt, and Sky (such as fights on
the Airship)
Abilities:
Wind Slash: Wind damage to all.
Sun Bath: Heals party's HP
Plasma: Lightning elemental damage to one
Cockatrice: Inflicts Stone status on target. Note the game says it
does damage, however, the move misses entirely if enemy is immune to
Stone status, so that factor is moot.
Evaluation of Dance: Fairly solid. Wind Slash is good MT damage, and
Sun bath is effectively full healing. Cockatrice is a bit mehish,
though, it�s the rarest attack of the dance, thankfully. Plasma isn't
particularly special, but doesn't hurt either.
Forest Nocturne
Home Terrain: Forests
Abilities:
Leaf Swirl: Non Elemental damage to all
Forest Healing: Recovers party from most negative status ailments
Will o' the Wisp: Fire Damage to one
Wombat: Non elemental damage to one
Comments: Probably the worst dance in the game. Forest Healing being a
frequent attack really screws the dance's potential, and it has no real
tricks, beside Wombat which is oddly Mog's strongest damage dance�pity
its also the rarest.
Desert Lullaby:
Home Terrain: Deserts
Abilities:
Sandstorm: Wind Elemental damage to all
Antlion: Instant Death to one
Wind Slash: Wind Elemental damage to all
Meercat: Grants Haste status to the whole party
Comments: Pure novelty dance. Not particularly useful, but not scrubby
either. Main problem is there's no real use for a Desert Dance, in
general (if it had some good skills, that'd be one thing, but�it
doesn't)
Love Serenade:
Home Terrain: Towns and Indoors
Abilities:
Will o' the Wisp: Fire damage to one
Apparition: Confuses single target
Snare: Instant Death to one
Tapir: Recovers party from status
Comments: Nifty for the confusion, and chance of instant death, though
quite lacking on damage. Not much home terrain to take advantage of
this, the places that do its not worth it (Zozo, those few fights in
the Banquet sequence, Owzer�s House, among a few other places)
Earth Blues:
Home Terrain: Mountains, and the Floating Continent
Abilities:
Rock Slide: Non Elemental damage to one
Sonic Boom: Reduces target's HP by 62.5%
Sun Bath: Heals the party's HP
Boar Brigade: Non elemental damage to one
Comments: Nice dance. Great when you consider the Floating Continent
is its home terrain as well. Rock Slide does some nasty damage (its an
improved Flare, more or less), Sonic Boom is some Gravity damage, and
it has some healing, even if unreliable. Boar Brigade is kind of just
there, though.
Water Harmony:
Home Terrain: Lethe River, Serpent Trench, and fight vs. Leviathan
Abilities:
El Nino: Water elemental damage to all
Plasma: Lightning Damage to one
Apparition: Confuses enemy
Raccoon: Heals party's HP and from most negative status effects
Comments: This dance, frankly, kicks ass, pity the home terrain appears
almost never. El Nino is quite nasty when you first get it, and Plasma
isn't half bad. Raccoon, while rare, is probably the best single
healing ability in the game, having no flaws in and of itself, while
healing ludicrously high amounts along with status. Apparition is
mostly novelty, but isn't bad.
Twilight Requiem:
Home Terrain: Caves
Abilities:
Cave In: Reduces Target's HP by 75%, adds Seizure Status
Snare: Instant Death to one enemy
Will o' the Wisp: Fire damage to one
Poisonous Frog: Poison Damage to one
Comments: Pretty average, this dance isn't much on raw damage, albeit,
since the only damage attacks are rare. This dance has a few terrain
areas, but there are often better things to do with Mog�s turns.
Snowman Rondo:
Home Terrain: Snowy Hills behind Narshe
Abilities:
Snowball: Reduces enemy's HP by 50%
Avalanche: Ice damage to all
Snare: Instant Death to one
Arctic Hare: Heals party's HP
Comments: Pretty sad, considering how late you get it. Only one area
is its home terrain, and the only thing worth fighting there (Ice
Dragon)�is immune to all its tricks. Nothing really worth noting about
this dance at all.
Ending Thoughts:
Mog is a pretty respectable character once you get it out of your head
that he's more than just Dances and Molulu's Charm. Being a freakish
tank late game, and a good physical fighter thanks to Dragoon Set Up
(or conversely, a decent Mage, should you prefer that), he's definitely
has his uses in the late game. Dances being dominant in the WoB
certainly are enough to secure his use over the Gold Hairpin,
especially giving him that extra time to learn some magic and some more
Esper levels too (let alone joining over leveled has its benefits.)
Despite being a total joke of a character in plot, he's no laughing
matter in battle...and he's so cute too, kupo ^_^ *shot for acting
"Kawaii"*
=====
| Gau |
=====
#Feral Youth#
Stats:
Extra HP: 45
Extra MP: 10
Strength: 44
Speed: 38
Stamina: 36
Magic Power: 34
Attack: 99
Defense: 44
Evasion: 21%
Magic Defense: 34
Magic Evasion: 18%
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: N/A (Gau has no Desperation)
Special ability: Rage/Leap
Effects: When Gau uses Rage, you lose control of him in a manner
similar to Mog's Dance, and you won't regain control unless he dies
(and is revived), or you end the fight. When in Rage status, Gau will
use one of two actions; the first is always a standard Fight command,
that despite its animation (which is dependant on the monster's), are
all identical, and the other move varies (like Stray Cat uses
"Catscratch" or Templar uses "Fira".) Any Status immunities or
elemental factors (Null, Absorption or weakness) the enemy has is
transferred to Gau as well, though do note that this DOES stack with
equipment, in and Elemental cases, works on the same logic of
Absorption > Null > Weakness > Neutral. Instant Death immunity is the
one exception here, as if Gau is immune before hand (with a Safety Bit,
naturally) and uses a Rage that isn't, he loses the immunity. Other
random factors like Undead or starting status effects (such as
Templar's Auto Protect status) are also transferred upon using Rage.
In order to build up Rage, the command "Leap" must be used, which is
available only on the Veldt. When using Leap, the battle there ends,
and Gau is lost temporarily. Gau will then randomly reappear at the
end of a fight on the Veldt, so long as your team has a free spot
(meaning 3 characters or less), and learn any Rages of Monsters in the
fight he returns on; note that if you scare Gau off by accidentally
hitting him, he will NOT learn Rages as he has to actually rejoin.
...yeah, Rage is simply put the most complex special in the game, you
can see why I didn't write for him in the SNES FAQ <_<;
Character Analysis:
Ok, I'm going to keep this short. I'm mainly writing for Gau this time
cause, well, it feels like at least his objective facts like Stats and
possible set ups should be listed. Gau is a character who has some of
the most potential in the game, be it early on when he's an incredible
powerhouse (though unreliable due to randomness), with a few tricks to
screw over bosses, or later in the game when he's got this really evil
defensive game due to how Rage's work. He also gets a new equip in
Dueling Mask thanks to Dragon's Den. If you're wondering, the Cat-ear
Hood use to be considered the best helmet in the game...Dueling Mask
beats it at *EVERYTHING* outside of doubling Gil, to give you an idea
how good it is. It also grants 25% HP like the Red Cap. Regardless,
Gau is one of these characters whose about as good as you let him; if
you don't mind Veldt Training, he'll be phenomenal so long as you know
what Rages to use. If you hate training on the Veldt? You might as
well leave him on the Airship, as he won't be doing you very good
(he'll be a worse version of Mage Mog, in essence.)
See, it's already done! Short like I said, right? Again, this isn't
cause I hate Gau, but rather, its cause to give a thorough analysis and
strategies on Gau would require a FAQ in and of itself, since he's a
very deep and complex character in terms of his game play worth.
Strategies for Gau throughout the game:
-Gau is someone who might prefer Front Row, if only cause he'll always
have that Physical as an option; this especially rings true for the
famous Stray Cat Rage, since Catscratch does not ignore row.
-Rages to look out for early on are Stray Cat, Guard Leader, Templar,
Oversoul, Bomb, Spritzer, Trillium, Darkside, Cloud, Lesser Lopros, and
Acrophies. I won't get into why, but these are the stand out rages
available when you first get to the Veldt, assuming you fought these
enemies, for one reason or another.
-Keep Gau's at least somewhat up to date. I'm not going to tell you
what Rages to get at every point (beyond the bunch I mentioned above)
since after a point, it really becomes micromanaging, and you should
raise Gau at a pace you feel works for you.
-Like with Mog, grab that Snow Scarf ASAP for Gau; its one of his big
advantages, and he's likely going to need it if you want to use Gau
effectively.
-Similarly, when you get the Dueling Mask, that should be a staple on
Gau. It is the best helmet in the game in every possible way (barring
the Saucer, which barely beats it in Magic Defense, and in Defense if
you're an imp, but that hardly counts), so take advantage of it.
-I suppose its worth noting that Berserk is a beneficial status effect
for Gau, at least after he uses Rage. Due to how Rage works, its script
overrides Berserk, but you�ll still get the damage increase (which I
think even applies to his magic, but not certain) from the status. Its
generally not worth the use of another character�s turn, however, though
it doesn�t hurt to remind that it exists. Bare in mind that many
worthwhile Rages (like Magic Urn and Night Shade) are immune to Berserk,
so this strategy is sometimes unusable. Just be sure to use Rage FIRST
before you cast Berserk on him too.
Gau's Ultimate and Noteworthy equips:
Weapons:
Nothing!!!
(Gau cannot use weapons besides Impartisan which actually LOWERS his
attack)
Helmets:
Priest's Miter
Green Beret
Red Cap
Dueling Mask
Circlet
Genji Helm
Saucer
Armors:
Snow Scarf
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
End Game Set Ups for Gau:
Who says 13 Year Old Boys can't drive tanks?:
*Empty*
Aegis Shield/Genji Shield
Dueling Mask
Snow Scarf
Perfect Defense, lots of stat boosts from Dueling Mask and elemental
resistance as well. Thunder Shield isn't really practical here as Gau
already resists every element in the game, including Absorbing Ice, and
depending on how you use him, he might resist more with his Rages.
Aegis Shield is flat out the superior Shield here (since Gau maxes
defense anyway, it gives superior magic defensive stats), though
there's a limited supply of them, hence why you might prefer Genji
Shield in this case.
He's Still No Worker 8...:
*Empty*
Force Shield
Saucer/Dueling Mask
Reed Cloak
White Cape
White Cape
The perfect Magic defense set up. Note that the Dueling Mask falls
short by literally one point, though give the Force Shield's auto
Shell, that's probably not going to matter; put Saucer on there for
perfectionist reasons. Dueling Mask is probably better for the
elemental resists, Stat Boosts, and giving Gau *SOME* physical defense
(its still bad, though not as bad as Terra/Mog's similar set ups, and
he gets extra evade too.)
Balancing of Defenses?cause we can!:
*Empty*
Force Shield/Tortoise Shield
Dueling Mask
Snow Scarf
Sort of a hybrid of the above two set ups. Having decent defense and
even better magic defense, this set up can take both types of damage
rather well, especially Magic with the Force Shield. That's not even
considering the 25% HP Boost the Dueling Mask grants. The Tortoise
Shield is listed since it grants an elemental resistance the Dueling
Mask doesn't cover (turns the Water resistance into Water Absorbing),
and adds 30% Evasion to help cover the lower (though by no means bad)
physical defense. Which you want comes down to personal preference,
mind. As usual, Gau will be about defenses, and this is about as good
as he'll get for balancing both, barring the use of the elusive
Paladin's Shield.
Miscellaneous stuff regarding Gau:
-Regardless of how hard you try, Gau will always have empty slots in
his Rage list. Siegfried and Typhon are both technically Rages,
however their formations (since they're pure coliseum enemies) never
appear on the Veldt. As such, if you seem to have every enemy, this
would be why. I heard Death Warden's formation used in the Soul shrine
DOES appear on the Veldt, so if you want him, you'll have to wait til
then, as the one found in the Box at in the Veldt Cave uses a different
formation (if you're wondering, the Veldt only shows Monster Formations
form 00 to 255, IIRC, and only if there is a Rage-able monster in that
list; Death Warden in the original had an unused formation that fell
within 00 to 255, while the one in the box was above that value.)
ALSO, note that for different reasons, Tonberries (NOT to be confused
with Tonberry) cannot be Raged due to their monster value. They were
suppose to appear in the last slot, but that spot is value 255, or FF
in Hex, which is treated as null data universally for purposes like
this, as such, that would be another Rage you can't ever obtain.
-Remember that to get a formation/monster to appear on the Veldt, you
have to encounter it. Whether you fight it the whole way through, or
just run, it doesn't matter, just need to actually see it.
-Despite them appearing on the Veldt, Proto Armor and LIVING King
Behemoth do not yield Rages. If you're wondering why those two haven't
appeared on your list, that would be the reason. Do note that the
UNDEAD King Behemoth still yields a Rage, however.
-Just to clear this up, no; not a single new enemy from Dragon's Den
gives a Rage, so Gau gains no new skills beyond the 3 universal new
spells and 4 new Esper in FF6a.
-Roulette used by Ahriman from Gau is *NOT* the same as a normal
Roulette. Its actually just like casting Death, except it can't fail
beyond strict immunity to it. This is because the targeting doesn't
work with Rage (since Rage tends to just use ST, MT, or randomly choose
one of the two if possible, completely ignoring oddities in targeting;
Roulette would be the only oddity that matters, near as I can tell), so
it just uses the effect, not the randomness part. It DOES count
towards teaching Strago the spell Roulette though.
-Gau has a few "status" moves that work on bosses! Or more precisely,
Rafflesia's Allure (which is an instant win to a boss if he has one
target, and no HP Loops, should it hit), Fiend Dragon's Northern Cross,
and Coco's Entice (I might be off on some of these names.) These
aren't glitches, mind; there is just no way to immune these abilities
in game, on either end (barring Magic Evasion anyway, in Allure and
Northern Cross' case), so technically they are fair game, though this
is probably an oversight...
-Despite how they appear in the Veldt, Proto Armor is not a rage-able
monster. They are an odd exception in that they�re the only enemy that
functions like this, due to how the game works (its not a bug, more just
an odditiy.)
-Gau is another character who naturally gets maxed out MP...in fact, he
hits 999 on the dot, instead of reaching a theoretical 4 digit value.
-Gau is also one of two characters who can actually become immune to
the Stop status. This is because there is no equip that does this, yet
Rages can yield immunity to the status, so its a nifty little
advantage. It should be obvious who the other is <_<
-Even though this might sound silly to bring up, it matters due to
older versions of the game. Wind God Gau *DOES NOT EXIST* in this
version of the game. Gau cannot use Merit Award, as such, none of this
Kazekiri + Stray Cat Rage = Death to all! combos. Saddening, yes; it
was a fun evil set up, but unfortunately, it's gone the way of the
evasion bug, Vanish/Death, among some other cheese in this version.
Though, this is especially worth noting cause Wind God Gau is
incredibly inconsistent whether he exists or not. Similarly, the less
used other set up of Catscratch + Master's Scroll + Fixed Dice is gone
as well, due to the same "Gau can't use Merit Award" reasoning.
Skill set:
Gau's skill set relies on Rages. This is also by far the biggest skill
set in the game, since even removing the unobtainable Rages, he's got
over 250 of them. Due to sanity purposes, its better to just use a
Rage or Monster FAQ; the ones for the SNES version work well, though do
note the name differences will require you to mix and match.
Ending Thoughts:
Not much to say, beyond Gau is ONE COMPLEX CHARACTER. Again, I can't
go into depth regarding him, since well...notice how his Miscellaneous
Info is compared to everyone else? Yeah...Gau is about as good as you
let him be, that's that. He can work as a tank Mage if you really want
him too, but he'll be worse than Mog overall for that, at least until
Dueling Mask, which is late in the Dragon's Den.
======
| GOGO |
======
#Mimic#
Note: For simplicity purposes, despite how its never actually been
officially stated who/what Gogo is, I'll just refer to Gogo with male
pronouns. So don't start e-mailing me about "Gogo isn't necessarily
male!" as its just easier to do it this way than to say "s/he/it" every
time.
Stats:
Extra HP: 36
Extra MP: 12
Strength: 25
Speed: 30
Stamina: 20
Magic Power: 26
Attack: 13
Defense: 35
Evasion: 10%
Magic Defense: 25
Magic Evasion: 6%
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: Punishing Meteor
Special Ability: Mimic
Effects: Gogo will use the same action as the one used by the character
immediately before him. Should the action either be one that can't be
mimicked (Morph for example), or no action has been used yet, Gogo will
default to using "Fight."
Other: Gogo can use any skill set of any other character in FF6, with
the exception of Trance, Leap, Shock, Health, Magitek, and Possess (note
that Health = Cura, Shock can be used via Yojimbo Rage, and Magitek can
be used if Gogo has "Fight" and is in the Magitek Armor section of
Cyan's Soul) Gogo's skill sets with these are based off of the skill
set of the "home" character (IE Gogo will know only Blitzes that Sabin
already knows), Magic command is based off whatever Magic the current
party has (IE if your team is Gogo, Terra, Gau, and Sabin, Gogo will be
able to use any spell that any of those characters know) Gogo can only
use skill sets of characters that you have been "properly introduced" (IE
seen their Naming Screen) If Shadow was not rescued on the
Floating Continent, Gogo can not use Throw. For moves like Jump,
Dualcast, Control, Mug, and Giltoss, Gogo must equip the proper Relic,
and have the proper skill set equipped, to use those abilities (for
example, if Gogo wants Mug, he needs to equip the Brigand's Glove AND
have the "Steal" skill on) To see EXACTLY what Gogo can use, check the
skill set section, if this sounds confusing.
Character Analysis:
Ah, Gogo; more variety than you could ever hope for in a character...at
least by FF6 standards. He also has absolutely garbage stats and
equipment isn't much better. This leads him to being a very niche
character. He can do just about anything you want him too, but often,
its worse than the original character doing it, be it cause of the
garbage stats (his Bushidos will be worse than Cyan's, for example, due
to much lower Strength), or because his equipment holds him back (while
he steals just as well as Locke does, Locke has much better equipment
options so he tends to live longer, plus higher speed never hurts.) If
you're wondering, yes, the variety does compensate for the stats and
equipment, but that doesn't mean Gogo suddenly becomes a massive
powerhouse or something.
Gogo's equipment selection is essentially the same as Strago's, with a
different Dragon's Den equip, and loses out animal suits for things
like the Black Garb. This is a flat out losing trade, if you can�t tell,
for a number of obvious reasons (Behemoth Suit > anything Gogo can get,
for starters; Nutkin Suit too, for that matter.) He can at least use all
the same important weapons, like Swordbreaker or the Magus Rod. His
Dragon's Den Weapon...isn't particularly useful. Yes, it does grant +4
to all his stats, and it randomly casts Bio and is much stronger than
anything else he can equip...but since when does Gogo care about his
basic physical when he has moves Throw or Blitz at his disposal? The
weapon yields no real defensive advantages, and Magus Rod yields more on
the offense that Gogo cares about anyway; the boost he'd get on Throw
from the Strength Boost is too meager to compare about, you�d be
preferring those defensive gains from other weapons.
One of Gogo's flaws though, how big varies from person to person, is
that he can't equip any Espers. He can't use them to learn Magic (has
his own special method to determine his magic set, as noted earlier), he
can't use them to summon them in battle, and what seems to matter most,
he can't use them to boost his stats. As such, his stats are completely
static beyond some equipment boosts. That's right, see those garbage
stats? He's stuck with them. Another flaw, and this one is unique to
this version of the game, is that Gogo can't even use Merit Award,
meaning now he's even stuck with his bad equipment selection too. Yeah,
this hurts him pretty badly, though it doesn't make him unsalvageable.
The kind of equips he gets do help him out as they save his Magic score
some, meaning he can still whip out a decent Phantom Rush and Razor Gale
for consistent damage, as well as pull off a lot of Strago's tricks at
the same time.
Its pretty clear what Gogo's purpose is; jack of all trades, master of
none. He can do anything you want, but he doesn't do them all THAT
well, so you have to keep this in mind when using him. He won't
suddenly cover for 3 characters at once because he can use 3 different
skill sets; Gogo is another point in the proof that a character is NOT
determined by their skill set. Giving Gogo Tools does not turn him
into a second Edgar, since Edgar is a character who relies a fair
amount on his equipment late game. Granted, someone like, say, Sabin,
who does rely on his special skill, can be replicated pretty easily by
Gogo. How well Gogo replaces those characters varies depending on
their equipment, and how reliant on their special skills they were. Do
NOT expect him to suddenly act as a clone to a character just because
he has their skills; I can't stress this enough. While it works in
some cases, it doesn't work in ALL cases.
Strategies for Gogo throughout the game:
-Gogo's Ultimate Armor is the Magus Robe; yes, that store-bought item
that Relm/Strago also get in Maranda. You might as well buy it the
instant he joins, if not before.
-The only two weapons Gogo should be using are the Magus Rod or the
Swordbreaker. Swordbreaker has an extra benefit, granted, of allowing
Bushidos should you want Gogo to use those for whatever reason, though
Magus Rod tends to cover more important skills. Whether you want more
Evasion, or Magic Power and Magic Evasion is your call. As a side
note, BOTH weapons can use Runic, should you care. Yes, its odd, but
Magus Rod is a runic compatible weapon, for one reason or another.
-Like most characters, Gogo should be in the back row, especially since
he should never be using his fight command, ever. This is only further
supported by the fact that his Dragon's Den weapon, the Scorpion's
Tail, ignores Row penalties.
-What skill sets to give Gogo? Well, Magic is good if the current team
has a good selection spells, Blitz and Throw are always solid for
damage options, though I wouldn�t use both at the same time (which you
use depends on if you want more raw damage in Blitz or more flexible,
targettable damage in Throw.) Lore is nice for some variety, and good if
the magic selection in the team isn't much. Other abilities have some
uses here and there, but for the most part, those are likely the most
useful.
Gogo's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Magus Rod
Gladius
Swordbreaker
Scorpion's Tail
Impartisan
Helmets:
Circlet
Genji Helm
Priest's Miter
Red Cap
Saucer
Green Beret
Armor:
Magus Robe
Mirage Vest
Reed Cloak
Black Garb
End Game Set ups for Gogo:
Go Gogo:
Magus Rod/Swordbreaker
Genji Shield/Aegis Shield/Thunder Shield
Circlet/Red Cap
Magus Robe
I'll be honest; I'm not sure WHAT you want with Gogo, so this set up
pretty much covers all areas...well, if you look at its amount of
alternatives anyway. Circlet for Magic Damage, Red Cap for defenses
and physical damage (Unfortunately, Gogo's defense is too low for Genji
Helm to really be worth much), the usual Shield nonsense that applies
for all characters, and then Magus Rod vs. Swordbreaker was explained
above. Naturally, if you want Bushidos, which weapon you'll choose
should be obvious <_<. Magus Robe tends to win for the most part on
Gogo's equipment options, hence why I figured he'd be using that.
Miscellaneous Info regarding Gogo:
-Do not forget that Gogo can Steal, much like Locke, so if you ever want
a specific item, or have kleptomania tendencies, Gogo is a good idea to
bring along, be it alongside Locke or in place of him. Also, note that
Gogo in some ways is BETTER as a thief than Locke, due to how the
Colosseum works. See one of the later points for how this works.
-Miming Magicite Shards is not the same as Miming 3 Bars! What do I
mean? When you use Mimic with a Magicite Shard, Gogo will mimic the use
of the item, which is to say, he can get a totally different summon
than the original use of that item. So if Relm summoned Alexander when
she used it, Gogo can Mimic that, and instead, get Ifrit. HOWEVER, if
you Mimic the 3 Bars Slots, Gogo will copy the actual Esper summoned.
This means that if Setzer were to summon Midgarsormr with 3 Bars, Gogo
would actually mimic the summoning part, and summon Midgarsormr as
well. This isn't particularly useful anymore, granted, since now a lot
of people get the Esper Ragnarok instead of the Sword, given you can
get both in the same file due to a clear save, but still thought I'd
throw it out.
-HOWEVER, Gogo is still helpful for getting that Cursed Ring. This is
because with Gogo, you aren't restricted to a single (reliable)
Ragnarok summon a fight. Have someone else summon Ragnarok, then have
Gogo continually mimic that until it hits. Only thing close to a
reliable way to get that pure Trophy item.
-Gogo would be the OTHER character can immune the stop status, and for
the same reason as Gau; he can use Rage.
-If you use Gogo in the Fanatics Tower, you may have noticed he can't
use Magic there, only Mimic (and Item, if you gave that to him.) This
is because the Fanatics Tower is, well, screwed up how it works.
Rather than removing everyone's skill set but Magic, Mimic and Item, it
removes everyone's skill set but Fight, Mimic and Item, but then turns
Fight into Magic. It sounds screwed up, but trust me; that's how it
works. The ending result is if you want Gogo to use the Magic skill
set in the Tower, give him Fight, not Magic, and it will work. I know
it sounds odd, but trust me, that's how it works.
-Gogo sadly can't use the Merit Award in this version, as I said
before. Why? I'm not sure, might have to do with cheesing out Wind God
Gau set ups, and realizing Gogo can do the same.
-Gogo *CANNOT* uncurse the Cursed Shield. Any fights Gogo has the
Cursed Shield equipped does not count towards the amount of fights you
have the thing equipped. Sad but true.
-For multi hit actions, each one of their own rule. Obviously, for
moves that by nature hit multiple times like Tempest or Flurry, Gogo
will do the full thing. He also will Mimic entire Dualcasts as well,
so if you have Celes use Ultima twice with Dualcast, Gogo will do the
same. However, for X-fight (What the Master's Scroll yields), Genji
Glove physicals and Multijump (as in, Jump with Dragon's Horn), Gogo
will merely use standard Fight commands, or in the case of Multijump,
he'll use normal Jump.
-Gogo is one of the best characters to use in the Coliseum cause you
can quite literally control his actions. If nothing else, you can just
give him nothing but "Fight" commands and watch him be insured to
damage the enemy. This is also nice when trying to get, say, Celestriads
by stealing from Galypdes, as you can give Gogo nothing but Steal to
insure he will do nothing but that (I suggest giving him a Brigand's
Glove too, just so the fight will end within a reasonable time.) The
only thing you have to be careful of is equipment; the limited equipment
options might hurt his performance here, so take that into account.
-In an insulting scenario, Gogo naturally gets 998 MP, just BARELY
missing that natural 999 threshold. Its especially insulting cause he
can�t even use Esper Boosts to get that last MP! He can use Priest�s
Miter, admittedly, but where�s the fun in that <_<?
Skill set:
Gogo's Skill set is, well, dependent on others. He can use all other
skill sets in the game, with a few exceptions. If you want to see
exactly what Gogo can use...well, I suppose I can list the actual
Commands he can use himself:
Mimic
Fight (Jump w/ Dragoon Boots)
*Magic (Dualcast w/ Soul of Thamasa)
Item
Steal (Mug w/ Brigand's Glove)
Bushido
Throw (NOTE: If you did not wait for Shadow on the floating Continent,
Gogo will not know this)
Tools
Blitz
Runic
Lores
Sketch (Control w/ Fake Mustache)
Slots (Giltoss w/ Heiji's Jitte)
Dance (NOTE: If you didn't get Mog in the WoB, Gogo will not know this
until you recruit Mog in the WoR.)
Rage
*As a reminder, Gogo�s use of Magic functions differently than other
characters. He will only know magic of the characters in his current
party, and can�t equip Espers. He�ll never know Magic permanently, and
he can actually LOSE spells as a result.
NOTE: Anything listed in a () means you have to equip the listed Relic
and the base skill set for it to work, as in, if its not obvious by
now, to sue Mug, Gogo needs to have Steal equipped, and then.
Ending Thoughts:
Gogo can do about anything you want him too, but whether he can do it
well is a different story. If you're using Gogo, it better be for his
variety purposes, as he doesn't have much else really going for
him...well, ok, his damage is fine thanks to Throw/Blitz being among
his repertoire, but that isn't the point! Point is, many will claim
Gogo is the best character due to his variety, but his flaws are too
great for this to be case. Don't get me wrong; Gogo is still a decent
character, I'm just saying he tends to get a little overrated at times.
=======
| UMARO |
=======
#Yeti#
Stats:
Extra HP: 60
Extra MP: 0
Strength: 57
Speed: 33
Stamina: 46
Magic Power: 37
*Attack: 198 (47)
*Defense: 217 (89)
*Evasion: 18% (8%)
*Magic Defense: 158 (68)
*Magic Evasion: 15% (5%)
Level Readjustment: +2
Desperation: N/A (Umaro does not have a Desperation)
Special Ability: "Rage"
Effects: When Umaro is in battle, you lose all control over him ala
Rage or Dance. He will then only use Fight or "Tackle" commands. If
he has the Berserker Ring equipped, then "Character Toss" may sometimes
be used, providing he actually has allies. If he has a Blizzard Orb
equipped, he will randomly use "Snowstorm" at times.
*Due to Umaro having the Snow Scarf and Bone Club permanently equipped,
his stats in game will always be the first value; the second value is
just a technical base that only exists in the hardware, and never
actually matters.
Character Analysis:
I'll be blunt here; Umaro sucks. There's no real denying that either.
You can try to back him up all you want, but all you get is a character
who randomly shifts between doing low damage and moderate damage, no
equipment variety outside of Relics, and no real redeeming features.
Well, ok, he does always absorb Ice and resist Fire, and with the
Berserker Ring (which you SHOULD always have equipped, at least til
Dragon's Den), he changes that Fire resistance to absorbing and adds
Lightning immunity too. But beyond that, he's a waste of those great
base stats.
Now, you might think "you're only saying that cause you can't control
him!" but lets analyze this for a moment. Ok, suppose you COULD
control him...he'd be a character who constantly does moderate damage
then, alright, fine...so how is this better than, say, Mog who can
achieve better defensive stats in everyway, and can shift equipment
around to his liking? Or someone like Sabin who doesn't need Relics to
use his big damage, thus can use Relics that augment it? Sounds like
Umaro ends up being average at best there, if you ask me. Still not
convinced? Alright, lets use a parallel character in Gau, who often
gets bad rap due to his "uncontrollability." Gau can choose one out of
250 some odd Rages, so long as you get them, and many of them give him
different defensive or offensive advantages...and he still has
equipment variety, ignoring weapons, and better defensive stats due to
Shields and Helmets. He can also NOT be forced into uncontrollable
state, making him pull utility roles at very least as a healer, or
throwing items, or casting magic on enemies, what have you. Even if
these aren't good uses of Gau (since other characters can do them
better), they are still something he has the option of doing that Umaro
does not. If Umaro is left alone to fight an enemy, you basically pray
your ass off things go the way you want; you can't try to revive party
members, or cheese the quick spell, or what have you. No, Umaro's
essentially Gau who can't change equipment, stuck in one set permanent
Rage that can be augmented by using up his relic slots.
Now, in fairness, the Bone Wrist he gets from Dragon's Den does save
him some. It gives him a hefty boost to all stats (+5 to the 4 base
ones, +10 to both Defenses and +10% to both evades), as well as
combines the Hero's Ring, Sniper's Eye, Hyper Wrist, and Muscle Belt
into one Relic. Needless to say, this thing looks utterly awesome on
paper. The fact that despite this Relic, Umaro still falls short of
being decent proves his worth beforehand; he's really a bad character.
I suppose Umaro can be good if you get him ASAP, before characters
start getting their good stuff...I mean like you grab him after
Grabbing Mog (whose required) and maybe Phantom Rush (no reason not
too) only, but that means you already have access to Agas and Quake by
default, and feels silly when there's slightly easier characters to get
back like Terra, Shadow and Gau. He also works if you really want a
physical fighter for Fanatics Tower I suppose, but...that's about where
his use ends. He's a quirky character that was badly thought out, and
Square apparently realized that, tried to salvage his worth, and even
with a relic as strong as that, they didn't really succeed. Well, I
suppose another thing Umaro has in his favor is not being total garbage
in an Natural Magic Game. After all, he IS one of the only characters
who can ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING in the Fanatics Tower (Terra, Celes and
Gogo being the other three), so that's a point there, I guess,
but...yeah, shows that other characters need restrictions for Umaro to
even have any use.
All in all, Umaro is simply not a good character at all. Even
characters like Cyan got some sort of "saving grace" with Quick or
something letting them work well, but Umaro doesn't even get that.
He's a fairly one dimensional character, and isn't even that good at
his one dimension. Avoid him unless you like berserk type characters
or something, as he's not someone worth hyping at all. What's worse?
He can't use Esper boosts either, so he's stuck with those stats like
Gogo is as well.
Strategies for Umaro throughout the game:
-Give Umaro the Berserker Ring. That raises his chances of using
actually good moves, and boosts protection against two elements. Do
not bother with Gauntlet as it won't raise his damage as much as been
hyped in the past, though Gigas Glove or Black Belt both work.
Blizzard Orb isn't really worth the hassle, though the option is there.
-Umm...the only other strategy I can think of is when you get the Bone
Wrist, keep that on Umaro and never remove it. Its his best relic by
far, and it doesn't even turn into anything useful at the Coliseum (ok,
Dueling Mask *IS* awesome but only Gau can use it outside of Merit
Award, and even the Dueling Mask doesn't justify wasting a Relic Slot
for...)
-Actually, I have one other strategy! Interestingly enough, Berserk is
100% beneficial as a status effect for Umaro. Due to how he works, he�s
always using Physicals anyway, the game just randomly replaces them with
some other action. As a result, all Berserk does is increase his damage
of his basic physical (and possibly Storm) by 50% (Tackle and Character
Toss ignore defense, so they ignore this bonus.) Not worth wasting the
turn of one of your allies, probably, but hey, its Umaro; you take what
you can get.
Umaro's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips:
Weapons:
Bone Club
Helmets:
NOTHING!!!
Armor:
Snow Scarf
NOTE: This is being purely technical here, as these are the only equips
Umaro can use, and he comes with them; just felt like throwing them up
there for consistency purposes.
End Game Set Ups for Umaro:
...given Umaro can only use Relics, I'm not going to even bother here.
I'll just say "give him Berserker Ring and Bone Wrist, as they're his
best Relics" and move on. Ok, he MIGHT prefer a filler relic in the
spot of the Berserker Ring, or in rare cases, the Blizzard Orb,
but...yeah...
Miscellaneous Info regarding Umaro:
-Umaro is a decent Coliseum Candidate since you know exactly what he'll
do, in essence. This means you won't have to worry about him screwing
up set ups that are reliant on relics.
-If you use the Unequip Guy on the Airship, note that he will NOT touch
Umaro's equipment. Probably done so Umaro never loses his Weapon or
Armor (so no freebie Snow Scarf! This also makes the Bone Club you can
get in the Coliseum junk outside of Coliseum Purposes or extra money),
but it also extends to his relic. Something to keep in mind if you
can't find that certain relic you were looking for, and you used Umaro
recently.
-Black Belt allows Umaro to use his other commands. This is because
the game randomly checks to see if his "Fight" will be replaced with
Tackle, Character Toss or Snowstorm, and Black Belt does nothing but
counter with a "Fight" command. This makes Black Belt a better option
than it might sound at first for him.
-Master's Scroll is NOT a good option for him though, since while it
doubles the damage of his basic attack, it HALVES the damage of
Character Toss and Tackle, so you get the same damage in the end, but
wasting a relic slot.
-Character Toss is SUPPOSE to do extra damage when Mog is thrown,
however, due to an oversight in programming, where the boost was done
like any other Multiplier instead of a unique method, this is ignored
as Character Toss ignores defense, so its meaningless. Just a random
piece of useless info!
-Character Toss heals Sleep and Confuse status of the character thrown!
This actually kind of matters, especially since Umaro WILL always use
Character Toss on that character if that person has one of the two
status'.
-Just to clear an old rumor up, just in case. Green Cherries do NOT
increase Umaro's Attack. This was believed to be the case
because Umaro would use a Green Cherry in his boss form to trigger a
power up mid fight. This is purely a battle script thing for his boss
form, and has no effect for the form that joins you at all. Do not
fall for this silly rumor.
-As a random fact, Umaro�s Character Toss was suppose to double in damage
if the character in question was Mog. This would have been a neat
gimmick, except that because they programmed it like a Multiplier, and
Character Toss ignores defense, the boost gets overridden and becomes
completely useless.
Skill set:
Umaro's Skill set is based on what you equip him with somewhat part.
They are used randomly, and rates also vary on what he uses. Here's
the 3 special moves he gets, and the rates he'll use them with equips:
Fight: Basic physical, no strings attached, etc.
Tackle: Physical damage, same as his basic physical but ignores Defense
and evade. Usable naturally.
Character Toss: Damage based on the combined total of Umaro and the
character's Attack; note that this will cap at 255, and the
lowest this can be is 198 (Umaro's Attack). If the character
thrown has Sleep or Confuse status, then they will heal that status as
well. If there are no valid allies (cause they are Dead, Jumping,
etc.), activating this would result in using "Tackle." Requires
Berserker Ring.
Snowstorm: Multitarget Ice Elemental Magic damage. Requires Blizzard
Orb.
The rates he'll use his moves are as follows:
First off, if a character is under Sleep or Confusion status, he WILL
use Character Toss on that character 100% of the time. Otherwise...
If no Berserker Ring or Blizzard Orb equipped:
Fight 62.3%
Tackle 37.7%
If equipped with a Berserker Ring:
Fight 37.3%
Tackle 25.1%
Character Toss 37.6%
If equipped with a Blizzard Orb:
Fight 37.3%
Tackle 25.1%
Snowstorm 37.6%
If equipped with a Berserker Ring and Blizzard Orb:
Fight 24.7%
Tackle 25.1%
Character Toss 25.1%
Snowstorm 25.1%
Ending Thoughts:
Umaro sucks. I know I said this many times already, but its pretty
much a fact. Anyone who says otherwise is really reaching; especially
if its before the Bone Wrist. I know I TRY to be objective when
looking at these characters, but all ways I look at Umaro, he ends up
being "he CAN do passable damage occasionally...and has nothing else
going for him" which kind of is the definition of a sucky character, at
least by this game�s standards. Uncontrollable, not as strong as you'd
like, little variety on what he can use, especially since he requires
unique Relics for his moves...yeah. Hate to say it, but Umaro is someone
who really has no real point in this game, and if you're a fan of Umaro,
I'm sorry, but the sooner you accept that he's worse than other
characters, the better.
And so we reach the conclusion of the meaty boring doggy work part of
the FAQ! As in the part I feel totally uninspired to write, took me
forever, etc. Rather than make this drag on, lets finally go to the
NEXT SECTION!!!
------------------------------
6. Character Growth Strategies
------------------------------
A major question with characters that is asked is "how should I raise
this character?" Well, obviously, with Espers! ...what? I'm suppose
tell you what KIND of espers? Oh, that's no fun...wait, right, who said
anything about writing a FAQ was fun? ...don't answer that.
Anyway, raising a character depends on what you want. First off, I'll
say this; specializing in on area, physical or magical, tends to work
better than dual raising. Especially since Strength boosts are only
noticeable in bulk, you'll want as many of these as possible. A good
way to raise a character is to try and max their Strength or Magic
Power (as in, 128) and then put the rest of the boosts in speed. If you
want 9999 HP, 2 levels of Diabolos somewhere between level 31 and level
83, I believe, should be enough to hit 9999 (originally, you had to use
level ups of 68-69, 69-70 and 70-71 with Bahamut for the minimal
requirement, if you're curious.) I might be off, but point is, any 2
levels somewhere in the middle should work. If you wish to Max MP,
well, any character I noted that does this naturally does it, obviously.
Other characters should just equip Crusader for a level (earlier =
better, in general), and that should be enough.
Do note that for those being raised as Fighters (as in, Strength
boosts), the true cap is 128. While 128 is the BASE stat cap, as in if
the character is naked, that is the highest value they can get, thus
the highest Espers can raise it naturally, stat boosts from equipment
(like Enhancer's +7 to Magic Power) are still functional. Strength,
however, truly does cap at 128 due to how the algorithms work; any value
above 128 becomes meaningless. It might not be a bad idea to work out
what equipment you plan on using, see what strength boosts occur, and
then raise your strength stat to the point where you can hit 128 with the
boosts from those being enough.
Anyway, once the stat is maxed out, boost speed as much as possible.
This means use Cactuar for the rest of your levels, barring maybe those
few levels you're using Diabolos or Crusader if you want those perfect
9s in HP and MP. Stamina boosts are NOT worth it. You might have
noticed I haven't mentioned any boosting to Stamina, but that's simply
cause the stat plays such a little impact in general that boosting it
really isn't worth much; best to ignore it and move on.
Esper Boosts work quite simply, for those who don't know by this point.
Some Espers have a bonus to stats. When you have the Esper equipped,
they do nothing normally, but when you level up, that bonus is added to
your stats. So take Ifrit's Strength +1; every time you level up with
Ifrit equipped, you'll get +1 to Strength on that character. Naturally,
you'll want to take advantage of this, but I wouldn't get TOO upset if
you missed a level here and there, unless you are a perfectionist.
To avoid confusion though, HP and MP boosts are *NOT* strict boosts to
the respective stat. If you have 1000 HP and level up with Midgarsormr
(+30% HP), you will not have 1300 HP, or whatever it'd be factoring in
the natural HP Boost. It doesn't work that way; that'd be cheap as hell
naturally, and in only a few level ups with Bahamut, let alone Diabolos,
you could have 9999 HP by level like 40 <.< No, the way Esper Boosts to
HP and MP is that they are % bonus to the HP INCREASE you gain. So in
that 1000 HP example, if you were to gain 100 HP on that level up,
yielding a total of 1100 HP after leveling, Midgarsormr would give you an
extra 30 HP, making the total 1130. If that's not clear...I'm not sure
what else to say; reread the damn thing again and try to do the math
yourself. I mean geez, I can't spoon feed you this stuff...well, I COULD
but I'm a jerk and don't feel like it.
Now, what Espers boost what stats? Well, for a complete list, just look
below! Some of these might not be worth bothering with, just listing
them for completion purposes:
Siren: HP +10%
Catoblepas: HP +10%
Midgarsormr: HP +30%
Bahamut: HP +50%
Diabolos: HP +100%
Phantom: MP +10%
Fenrir: MP +30%
Crusader: MP +50%
Ifrit: Strength +1
Bismark: Strength +2
Raiden: Strength +2
Gilgamesh: Strength +2
Ramuh: Stamina +1
Golem: Stamina +2
Lakshme: Stamina +2
Leviathan: Stamina +2
Odin: Speed +1
Cactuar: Speed +2
Maduin: Magic Power +1
Cait Sith: Magic Power +1
Zona Seeker: Magic Power +2
Valigarmanda: Magic Power +2
There are other Espers in the game, obviously, but those have no Esper
boosts, thus are totally meaningless for these purposes.
So obviously, the whole argument of "Raiden vs. Odin" kind of just went
down the drain; Odin is no longer the only speed boosting Esper, and to
add to that, he's not even the best anymore thanks to Cactuar. As an
added side note, Gilgamesh teaches Quick, so the argument is ESPECIALLY
silly now since both are just added flavor; IOWs, don't worry about
losing Quick cause you want perfect stats, as you'll get them
regardless of upgrading Odin to Raiden or not. Personally, I�d go with
the upgrade for a few reasons, but that�s not important here.
Anyway, you'll want to get as many levels as possible under any +2
Esper. Mages naturally want Valigarmanda and Zona Seeker, Fighters
want Gilgamesh, Raiden or Bismark, and for speed boosting, you'll want
Cactuar. If for whatever crazy reason you care about it and want
Stamina Boosts, Golem, Lakshme and Leviathan are what you want. For
how to raise which characters...well, just check below! Naturally Gogo
and Umaro are excluded from this list purely on concept of not being
able to use Espers. Another thing to consider is how much more impactful
Magic Power is than Strength for their respective attacks, and how nearly
everyone can make good use of Magic Power to varying degrees, where as
some characters like Strago are total lost causes with physical damage.
A common suggestion that comes up, as a result, is �When in doubt, raise
Magic Power� which is not a bad suggestion at all, so keep that in mind.
Terra: Either. She's got good magic power and equipment to support
being a mage, meanwhile, she also has strong weapons to make use of the
fighter side. Either strategy is viable, so use whatever compliments
your team better, such like a �Fighter Terra� may be overall worse than
�Mage Terra�, but it�d compliment some teams better, such like those
with, say, Relm, who need that Soul of Thamasa more desperately. She
works well either way, even if technically the Mage Route is overall more
effective, the Fighter route tends to be a bit more flexible for a number
of reasons.
Locke: Strength. Locke's big thing comes from his weapon selection,
and notably, the Valiant Knife. Combined with his low starting magic
score, and how he's using his basic physical from the start of the
game, he'll want as many strength boosts as possible, so the direction
is pretty clear.
Cyan: Strength. Most of his Bushidos are physical, well the ones you're
likely to use anyway (only magic one that matters is Eclipse, I
suppose.) Only reason to boost his Magic Power is if you REALLY like
the Kazekiri. I personally don't think its worth it, especially since
its a bad set up for bosses, but if that's what you like, feel free.
Shadow: Either. Throws are Physical, so boost Strength. HOWEVER, if
you plan on getting to level 99, it may be worth raising Magic Power as
even Shurikens will deal 9999 at level 99 with not many Strength
boosts. Granted, since you fight most things below then, Shadow will
probably benefit from these boosts more. Of course, Magic Power boosts
Scrolls which are good damage at different points so...yeah, can be a
tough call at times, Strength probably is the overall winner though.
Worth noting that due to how Throw works, Strength boosts are relatively
more significant for him than other characters who make use of them.
Edgar: Strength. Dragoon Set Up is what you'll be using him as (at
least, for a reason over Terra and Celes), and that's primarily
strength based. As an added bonus, enough strength boosts turn Auto
Crossbow into a Free Ultima at high levels, with a faster animation.
That can't be a bad thing, right? Edgar can be made a half decent mage,
mind, but note that �Mage Edgar� has absolutely nothing worth noting over
Terra or Celes being used in the same vain.
Sabin: Magic Power. Sabin's big Blitzes are all magical. The ones I'm
referring to are Aura Cannon, Rising Phoenix, Razor Gale and Phantom
Rush. Pretty much at all points, one of those will be Sabin's primary
damage, and considering Sabin doesn't really do much with Strength
anyway (despite popular physical Sabin builds for new players), it is
recommended he go this route. As I�ve noted earlier in the FAQ, despite
some popular newbee belief, Sabin is a pretty scrubby physical fighter,
both when compared to other characters being treated like that, or just
compared to what he can do with Blitz.
Celes: Either. See Terra, mostly. I should note that you should
probably avoid raising both a Fighter, and make one of them a Mage. I
personally suggest, if you do this, that Terra be made the Fighter and
Celes the Mage, since Save the Queen is pretty much a pure Mage weapon,
where as Apocalypse is a good Fighter weapon, though this is moot if you
get 2 Lightbringers of course. This is contrary to how most people use
to raise them the other way around, due to how their base stats would
imply, but the equipment (and lesser extent, special skill) speak
otherwise.
Strago: Magic Power. If Lores being Magical, having weak weapons, low
physical stats, lots of Magic Boosting equips and his class being
called "Blue Mage" didn't give it away (...ok, I take that back; FF5
Blue Mage wasn't half bad at fighting, and Sabin is a Monk who uses
Magic Power...), then I don't know what would. Strago is pretty much a
lost cause as a fighter, so don't try to turn him into something he's
not.
Relm: Magic Power. Similar to Strago except replace "Lores being
Magical" with "Game Best Magic Power." Like Strago, she's a lost cause
as a fighter, so take advantage of that magic stat.
Setzer: Magic Power. Only reason to raise Setzer as a Fighter is if you
REALLY like the Final Trump, and want to dual wield them (this requires
betting the Scorpion's Tail at the Coliseum, before the last part
of Soul Shrine anyway.) Otherwise, stick with good old Fixed Dice +
Master's Scroll, and raise something that'll effect things like Curaga
or Rasp (good for Dragon's Den's version of Skull Dragon), as well as
increase his consistent damage (let alone Multitarget). This also boosts
his slots damage, so its decent thing to start out with early on, to give
Setzer that little extra push in the WoB, where he�ll be using Slots,
which are ALSO magical.
Mog: Strength. Again, he's an oddball, and despite his stats and
appearance, he'll prefer the Strength for his Dragoon Set Up, which is
probably his most effective use. If you really like the prospect of a
tank mage, I suppose Magic Power doesn't hurt (especially now that
Gungnir exists), but yeah, Mog is someone whose going to want Strength
overall, I think. He's got spears for the Dragoon use, why not make
the most of it?
Gau: Both. No, I do not mean "Either" like Terra/Celes/Shadow. I mean
actually raise both. Gau can ALWAYS use Extra Strength since he'll use
those physicals regardless of his Rage (and Catscratch is physical to
boot). On the other hand, the only way he can do damage outside of
Rage is through Magic, and several of his rages use Magic anyway, so
its a good idea to get both his stats high. Also, because Gau requires
little human input after Rage, he's actually going to be a bit faster
in practice than he is on paper.
As I stated before, a decent philosophy to go by if you aren�t sure is
�when in doubt, raise Magic Power.� Otherwise, this should help note
what characters are good being raised as what.
-----------------------
7. Temporary Characters
-----------------------
This section is dedicated to those characters who, you know, pop up,
disappear, and don�t return cause they�re either stupid, weaklings, the
game hates you, or they die. I am only covering characters who actually
participate in a fight, so don�t expect to see �Maduin� here for example.
Similarly, no characters who you don�t actually control in any sort of
way, hence, �PC Kefka� wouldn�t be here either.
Because there�s less to talk about these characters, I�m not going to be
all SPECIAL!!! About distinguishing them, and just list them, and maybe
make comments on them. They also can�t change equipment, so I�ll just
list what they come equipped with! I�m also gonna list when you actually
use them, in case you�re curious. Like with Umaro, the first stat is
their actual stats as seen in game, while the second is their
hypothetical unequipped stat that you can never really access.
Anway�here they are!
#Wedge:#
Class: Soldier
Extra HP: 68
Extra MP: 0
Strength: 40
Speed: 35
Stamina: 46
Magic Power: 29
Attack: 62 (44)
Defense: 132 (68)
Evasion: 25% (15%)
Magic Defense: 86 (50)
Magic Evasion: 0%
Level Readjustment: -3
Special Ability: None. However, do note Biggs is always in Magitek
Armor, so �Magitek� may apply if you REALLY want too <_<
Equips: Mythril Sword, Buckler, Leather Cap, Leather Armor
Used During: During game�s �prologue� section.
#Biggs:#
Class: Soldier
Extra HP: 70
Extra MP: 0
Strength: 41
Speed: 36
Stamina: 45
Magic Power: 28
Attack: 65 (47)
Defense: 134 (70)
Evasion: 22% (8%)
Magic Defense: 86 (50)
Magic Evasion: 0%
Level Readjustment: -3
Special Ability: None. However, do note Biggs is always in Magitek
Armor, so �Magitek� may apply if you REALLY want too <_<
Equips: Mythril Sword, Buckler, Leather Cap, Leather Armor
Used During: During game�s �prologue� section.
#Moglin#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 50
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 18
Speed: 12
Stamina: 11
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 105 (35)
Defense: 63 (47)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 37 (27)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: +2
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Mythril Spear, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Mogret#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 54
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 18
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 110 (1)
Defense: 54 (38)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 36 (26)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: +0
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Morning Star, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Moggie#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 48
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 18
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 66 (1)
Defense: 58 (42)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 43 (33)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: 0
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Mythril Claw, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Molulu#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 64
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 17
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 97 (11)
Defense: 56 (40)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 42 (32)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: -3
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Chain Flail, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Moghan#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 55
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 16
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 49 (11)
Defense: 60 (44)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 39 (29)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: 0
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Mythril Sword, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
NOTE: Due to a bug mentioned in Celes� section, it is actually possible
to use Moghan the entire game. This does, however, come with a downside
of completely replacing Celes with a far inferior character.
#Moguel#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 51
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 20
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 116 (21)
Defense: 61 (45)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 40 (30)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: +2
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Moonring Blade, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Mogsey#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 52
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 24
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 34 (33)
Attack: 87 (27)
Defense: 57 (41)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 41 (31)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: 0
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Chocobo Brush, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Mogwin#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 53
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 19
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 90 (20)
Defense: 57 (41)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 41 (31)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: 0
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Mythril Spear, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Mugmug#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 50
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 17
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 82 (44)
Defense: 43 (27)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 29 (19)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: 0
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Mythril Sword, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Cosmog#
Class: Moogle
Extra HP: 53
Extra MP: 9
Strength: 20
Speed: 14
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 33
Attack: 113 (11)
Defense: 56 (40)
Evasion: 17% (7%)
Magic Defense: 43 (33)
Magic Evasion: 5%
Level Readjustment: +2
Special Ability: None.
Equips: Boomerang, Buckler
Used During: Protect Terra sequence
#Banon#
Class: Oracle
Extra HP: 46
Extra MP: 16
Strength: 10
Speed: 24
Stamina: 11
Magic Power: 38 (32)
Attack: 117 (6)
Defense: 110 (56)
Evasion: 36%
Magic Defense: 96 (51)
Magic Evasion: 32%
Level Readjustment: -3
Special Ability: Pray � Heals entire party for free, can only be used
during battles.
Equips: Punisher, Magus Rod, Silk Robe
Used During: Lethe River, Terra�s Scenario
NOTE: Despite the Punisher having 100% Crit Rate by expending MP, due to
how the game checks for MP, Banon is treated as having 0 MP, so the
attack does not in fact Auto Critical like its suppose to.
#??????#
Class: Ghost
Extra HP: 26
Extra MP: 1
Strength: 14
Speed: 15
Stamina: 10
Magic Power: 30
Attack: 32 (22)
Defense: 66
Evasion: 0%
Magic Defense: 52
Magic Evasion: 0%
Level Readjustment: +2
Special Ability: Possess � User removs self from battle (ala Spiraler) to
instantly kill the target, can fail. If the move fails, then the user
does not die.
Equips: Punisher, Lich Ring
Used During: Phantom Train
NOTE: This is the first Ghost you get. When the Ghost dies, irregardless
of circumstance, it leaves your team, and you�ll have to recruit another.
Note that where you recruit the Ghost doesn�t matter, and you can recruit
him as many times as you want.
#??????#
Class: Ghost
Extra HP: 20
Extra MP: 1
Strength: 4
Speed: 8
Stamina: 2
Magic Power: 15
Attack: 20 (10)
Defense: 17
Evasion: 0%
Magic Defense: 11
Magic Evasion: 0%
Level Readjustment: -3
Special Ability: Possess � User removs self from battle (ala Spiraler) to
instantly kill the target, can fail. If the move fails, then the user
does not die.
Equips: Punisher, Lich Ring
Used During: Phantom Train
Note: This is the second Ghost you get. In order to get him, you need
have had Shadow leave prematurely (before the Phantom Train, IOWs), and
already have recruitd the previous Ghost. See the other notes regarding
the first Ghost for how he functions.
#Leo#
Class: General
Extra HP:
Extra MP:
Strength: 52
Speed: 38
Stamina: 41
Magic Power: 36
Attack: 227 (60)
Defense: 186 (63)
Evasion: 42% (32%)
Magic Defense: 145 (xx)
Magic Evasion: 61% (31%)
Level Readjustment: +5
Special Ability: Shock � Does Non-Elemental, magical damage to all
enemies (as a side note, Gau�s Yojimbo Rage uses this very skill, if
you�re wondering how it compares to end game stuff)
Equips: Crystal Sword, Aegis Shield, Golden Helmet, Golden Armor, Gigas
Glove, Master�s Scroll
Used During: Kefka�s Attack on Thamasa
-----------------------------
8. Character Team Suggestions
-----------------------------
Ok, I took time to think about this, and my conclusion is simple:
FF6 is a game where you play to your own accord, and really anything
can work out in the end due to the twinkish, semi-universal somewhat
customizable nature of the game. As such, I will, instead of telling
you good teams to use outright, go along the method of "Catch a man to
fish, he eats for a day, yada yada yada yada FREE FISH FOR ALL!!!"
...at least, I think that's how the saying goes...regardless...
Ok, the times teams actually matter is when you have split parties.
The parts of the games you have split parties are the following:
Saving Terra in Narshe with Moogles (Due to how all teams are preset,
we are going to skip this)
Narshe Battle Sequence after the Scenario Split
Phoenix Cave
Kefka's Tower
Dragon's Den
Why do those matter? Because if you don't like stripping your team and
reassigning stuff, you MAY find yourself running short on equipment,
especially with things like Aegis Shields or Red Caps which are in
limited supply. If you play with a standard 4 party like most dungeons
in the game have, you'll find yourself with little difficulty
distributing equipment unless its something like a
Terra/Celes/Locke/Edgar team with only one Lightbringer so its a FIGHT
TO THE DEATH!!! over who gets that cheap shiny piece of metal that
HAPPENS to be the best weapon in the game...
Anyway, this section will try to give you things to consider while you
split your parties up.
*Narshe Battle Sequence*
The characters available here are Terra, Locke, Cyan, Edgar, Sabin,
Celes and Gau. Obviously, you will be making teams out of these 7!
First off, lets go over the strengths and weaknesses of each character at
this point.
Terra�s got passable offense with Fire, and should have enough MP with
the Ethers you have to get by. She can be built to one shot a Foot
Soldier with using only one Earring (though random variance may hurt if
level is too low; a 2nd Earring will insure she�ll kill, mind), she hits
the weakness on both Dog enemies, and actually is the highest reliable
damage you�ll get on a Heavy Armor, since Fire is targettable, not forced
MT (like Bio Blaster), and can be used whenever. This is of course all
secondary to her main use during this time, that being she�s one of your
two Healers, so she�s probably best paired with one of the higher
offensive characters like Edgar or Gau.
Locke is pretty much deadweight UNLESS you give him Genji Glove (or
Gauntlet), Gigas Glove, and his two best weapons (Air Knives are ideal,
but you may only have one, so Main Gauche as a supplement.) At least
here, his offense will be decent, though it requires Front Row, which
combined with no shield, makes him easily your frailest character. As a
result, Locke will be your clear LVP, and might just be best suited as
Item Boy for the team that doesn�t have one of the girls to take on
healing roles.
Cyan is pretty average here all things considered. Fang is enough damage
to keep him going and it has little flaws beyond targeting. Not really
much to say about him otherwise, just a consistent source of decent
enough damage.
Edgar is pretty ruthless here. Bio Blaster can clean entire battle
fields with a single casting, Auto Crossbow is good for finishing off the
things that survive, and he can even poison the pseudo-boss that is
Hell�s Rider, who happens to be weak to that element to boot. He�s
pretty much a one man army, the only thing he MIGHT want is another ally
with him to act as a warm body so he�s not taking all the punishment. As
a result, one of the girls might be ideal, as they can not only help soak
up hits, but healing is more beneficial than anything else the other
characters may bring.
Sabin is Cyan+ here. His damage is better, which matters mostly for
Heavy Armors (of whom he can�t target directly, mind), Kefka and the
Hell�s Rider. To be frank, he actually pairs up well with Cyan, since
having two consistent damage single target damage dealers works well as a
supplement for no Multitarget damage. No, its not ideal, but you gotta
take what you can get, and furthermore, the two work well against, say,
Kefka, if you just want to overpower him.
Celes is essentially Terra- here. Her offense is just as good against
Foot Soldiers, but everything else its worse, as both dogs and the Rider
are weak to Fire, and Heavy Armors specifically use Tek Barrier when
Celes is in your team, but not with Terra, making her completely useless
offensively there. She also has worse resources, considering less MP and
more expensive magic, though she can Runic away Tek Lasers if you�re
lucky. She DOES make an excellent choice against Kefka, though, since a
lot of what Kefka hurls at you is magic, and its one case where Runic
really shines through. While Sabin and Cyan complimented each other
despite having the same general use, Celes and Terra are quite the
reverse; they should be split up. Having 2 teams with a healer > having
one, and furthermore, the Heavy Armor aspect Celes provokes only furthers
to hurt the team when Terra is there, as instead of one character being
nerfed offensively, you have two.
Gau is like an unreliable Edgar. His effects are MUCH stronger, but his
abilities are far less reliable. Catscratch is obscene damage for the
bosses her, he can actually hit Kefka with Stop through a few of his
Rages, and Guard Leader is pretty much a free screen clearer. Of course,
he has to use these moves, and getting some of those Rages (Guard Leader
in particular) can be a chore. Either way, I highly suggest you keep him
parted from Edgar, and ideally, with one of the healers, so you can keep
the team alive longer so that Gau has more chances for the good stuff.
Personally, I split the teams up to be even, though some people like to
make one strong team and barrel through, others like to make 2 strong
teams and take advantage of a choke point, what have you. Some people
even just make 2 teams of 3 characters, and put Edgar by himself.
There�s no right or wrong way to go about it, just whatever works.
PERSONALLY, I�d set things up like this (order of teams irrelevant):
Celes/Edgar
Terra/Gau
Sabin/Locke/Cyan
This puts a healer with each of the big MT damage dealers, and keeps
Terra and Celes separated. I put Terra with Gau cause I figure someone
whose reliable against Heavy Armors would work better than someone whose
pretty much a pure defensive character there when paired with the more
unreliable Gau. The team of 3 involves 3 ST damage dealers which is good
enough to make up for lack of any MT damage. Furthermore, having Locke
in a team of 3 lowers his durability issues some, and with more
characters, you�ll need healing less, so the �item boy� healer strategy
works better here. Also, this set up allows all 3 teams to be adequately
prepared for Kefka. Team 1 has Celes to runic away anything he hurls,
Team 2 has Gau (paired with a healer) to either out slug him fast, or hit
him with Stop status, Team 3 has 3 characters who may just be able to
beat him down before things get out of hand, depending on his actions.
*Phoenix Cave*
Phoenix Cave is the simplest of the Party Splits, since its only 2
parties. Its also got a variable amount of options, not just cause of
who can be used, but also the options of what's available is entirely
up to the order you do things. The one thing that IS a fact, though,
is that you won't have Locke for this dungeon, and you won't have cheap
crap like Ultima (...nixing a level 99 Terra which is hardly a
standard), Paladin's Shield or Lightbringer by extension. At very
least, granted, you have Celes, Setzer and Edgar, and you most likely
will have Sabin. You should probably have Terra and Gau, being they're
easy recruits, as well as Mog, Umaro and Cyan, since they�re in far
easier dungeons with some really killer rewards (adding to that, Mog is
probably the 3rd easiest recruit in the game.)
Regardless, Phoenix Cave being a two party dungeon means that, in worst
case scenario, you can make one party, and shove Mog in the other with
Molulu's Charm, and treat the dungeon as normal, beyond the required
swapping. Obviously, do NOT throw Mog at Red Dragon if you decide to go
this route...
If you feel like doing things LEGITLY? Well, that's a different story.
However, its hard to say what you'll have at this point, what you won't
have, who you'll have, etc. So I'll just try to give you some
guidelines...
Elemental resistance is useful here. For this reason, Terra and Celes'
Minerva Bustier will come in handy, as will those elemental Shields,
Umaro's Berserker Ring, the Snowscarf, what have you. Make note of
what worthwhile elemental resistance you have (and by worthwhile, I
mean things that matter. Resisting Fire and Ice is worthwhile,
resisting Earth is not, so don't think Gaia Gears are suddenly
valuable...), and how you can divi it up. Things like Minerva Bustier,
Cat-ear Hood and Snowscarf being naturally restricted to specific
characters can help you with who to give what shield too.
Next off, make sure the 8 characters you choose are up to speed not
only on levels, but on skills and magic as well. For example, sending
in Mog cause you got him and his refactored leveled makes him one of
your highest leveled PCs might SEEM wise...but then you remember he is
totally lacking in magic, which could cost you, and make him less
worthwhile than, say, Relm, who despite being several levels lower,
would know some important spells like Cura that can save your ass. DO
NOT TAKE THIS EXAMPLE COMPLETELY LITERALLY!!! Sorry, but I have to
emphasize that since I know SOMEONE will say "But Mog can learn that
too!" and what not; this was merely an example, with two arbitrarily
chosen characters, you could swap the roles of both character's above,
and the point would remain the same, that being a well built character
can be more valuable than a higher leveled one.
Beyond that? Not much else to say; Phoenix Cave is pretty routine
beyond the minor split party thing.
*Kefka's Tower and Dragon's Den*
Yeah, figured I'd do these two together. Why? Cause most of what
applies to one applies to the other. In any event, since you have 3
parties here, you'll need at least 8, Non-Mog characters built up to
speed, if you're doing the Molulu's Charm Mog alone strategy. I can't
recommend that here though, since unlike Phoenix Cave, there are these
things called "Bosses" that you might run into, or in the case of
Kefka's Tower, WILL run into, with all groups, so unless you want to
exit the dungeon, reconfigure teams, redo the dungeon again, you may
find yourself with Mog against Goddess alone, which might not be a
pretty sight if you aren't well built. As such, I won't be considering
that strategy.
First off, how lazy are you matters. What I mean is do you mind
repeatedly unequipping each team, then re-equipping the others, just to
make equipment less of an issue? If you don't mind, then you can
probably get away with not much more than is needed for a standard
dungeon, at least until the final battle which may call for more than 4
characters due to its nature. If you are too lazy? Well, I'll help
you out.
To help with the equipment redistributing, try and figure out which
equipment are relatively permanent. For example, if we take that ever
lovable Moogle in Mog, and had him built as a Dragoon, he'll be using 6
equipment. Lets refer back to that set up, and break it down a bit.
Radiant Lance and Holy Lance are only usable by Mog and one other
person, that being Edgar. If its the Holy Lance, getting a second one
of those is trivial, so Mog should never really unequip it beyond
specific "Enemy immunes Holy!" reasons. Radiant Lance...well, depends
if you're using Cyan or not, since giving up that Mutsunokami for a
second Radiant Lance may or may not be worth your time (pity this isn't
FF6o, where the "Sky Render" was a piece of junk since Evasion was
bugged and did nothing, so the choice was obvious, Cyan being used
being a total nonfactor...), but more than likely, Mog's weapon is
static, and not shared with anyone besides Edgar. Mog's Armor is
unique enough that removing it is a waste of time, and both relics are
something that should be kept on, since both can be gotten in bulk and,
again, only Edgar would be using them. So that means the only thing
you have to worry about is the helmet and shield...and that's assuming
you don't have enough Thunder Shields to go around. Basically, you can
save a lot of time by just removing Mog's Helmet and Shield (and
POSSIBLY his weapon if you only have one Radiant Lance...)
Sorry for that complex example, but as you know, I drag on, but yeah,
you can save time in manners like that. Try to figure out which
equipment you'd be using regardless on the character, alongside which
equipment is not contending with another character (so Minerva Bustier
is something Terra and Celes can use, but you can get two, so them
being glued to the girls doesn't hurt the overall set ups of your 12.)
If you don't like "cheating the system" and want full set ups for 12
characters? You'll probably have to go do some item farming, like
stealing from Mudd Sudds for Thunder Shields (which can be turned into
Genji Shields, if you need more of those too) in the Coliseum or
Kefka's Tower, grabbing maybe an extra Genji Armor here and there
through the Coliseum, what have you. I am NOT saying go refight Kefka
3 more times for more Lightbringers in the case of Dragon's Den, mind.
Just make sure you have enough of high end stuff to go around. Now,
while I can't exactly tell you what parties to use for a variety of
reasons, since a lot of the game is customizable, and unlike the Narshe
Battle Sequence, where character uses are still static, you could raise
characters differently from me. HOWEVER, I can give you some advice of
how to set things up, in regards of what characters work well together,
or conversely, which characters should be split up. If I do NOT
mention a character anywhere, it means mostly cause their team
compatibility is pretty universal, in that they don't conflict with
anyone on equipment, not going to be repetitive in uses, etc; it has
NOTHING to do with how I feel about that character:
Locke vs. Setzer: Don't let the title mislead you; I am *NOT* saying
make a decision between the two, I just suck at labeling things. What
I mean is that Locke and Setzer are both prime contenders for that lone
Master's Scroll (this is before Soul Shrine, so yes, it is a lone one.)
Its a relic that maximizes the uses of both, so if you're using them,
you'll probably be using this. AS SUCH, Locke and Setzer SHOULD be
split up into different groups. This way, when you're using Locke's
group, give him the Master's Scroll, when you swap to Setzer's, take it
off Locke, and give it to Setzer. When you're going back to Locke,
swap the relic again. OF COURSE, if you're using Locke for, say,
purposes of Lightbringer, then he probably won't be using Master's
Scroll, so it should go straight to Setzer.
If you�re a fan of the Kazekiri related set ups, then add Cyan to this
comparison, and keep him separated from Locke and Setzer as well. As you
know, I personally am not, but I figure I should at least acknowledge it
hre.
Terra vs. Celes: See above. Now, while the two girls don't really hurt
each other while being in the same team, it DOES hurt your team
flexibility a bit. See, splitting the girls up means you are working
your elemental resistance around better, as it means you'll have at least
one character whose resisting every element in one way or another, and
won't have to worry about the Paladin's Shield. It wouldn't be a bad
idea to place these girls separate from one another, if for that reason
alone. Also, Lightbringer is something both girls are going to want,
so this lets you give it to both, should that be a factor. Again,
Lightbringer thing excluded, Terra and Celes do NOT indirectly harm
each other by being in the same team, its more a case of hurting the
other teams by lacking their prescience; you want to balance out your
teams after all, you should probably split these girls up for that
reason. Oh, both girls may want to be using that Soul of Thamasa if
taken down the mage route, so this splits that up as well, as an added
bonus.
Mog vs. Edgar: First off, this assumes Edgar is using a Dragoon set up,
and not Lightbringer, for whatever reason. That said�this is not a big
deal, but its still there, should you have only one Radiant Lance. This
is mostly just listing for an "FYI!" if you only have one Radiant Lance,
and aren't a fan of the Holy Lance (a spear about equal to Radiant Lance
in practice.) This also matters if you didn't go get a second Dragon
Horn for whatever reason, as they're both going to want to use Dragoon
Boots + Dragon Horn. Again, this likely won't come up (either cause
you'll be using Holy Lance, you'll have two Radiant Lances, what have
you), but its something to consider, depending on what you have.
Sabin and Gogo: Now, THESE are two character's that work well together.
See, the way it works is Sabin uses Phantom Rush, then Gogo mimics it.
If Sabin succeeds the Phantom Rush (don't mimic until you see the word
"Phantom Rush" appear atop), then Gogo will succeed too, you won't have
to worry about inputting the command again. Razor Gale works too for
here, naturally. FURTHERMORE, this lets Gogo not have to use Blitz as
one of his skill sets, leaving some flexibility (so you can have, say,
Steal on Gogo, if that�s your schtick.)
Cyan and Gogo: Similar to the above, mostly just in this case, it lets
you use two Bushido's in a row with worrying about the charge time only
once. Granted, Quick exists too, but you might not know Quick for Cyan
or Gogo, or something, so yeah, this couldn't hurt.
Gogo vs. Locke vs. Shadow: Ok, back to splitting up characters. In
this case, these are the three characters who can steal. Locke does it
naturally, Gogo can put "Steal" on his skill set, and Shadow can equip
the Thief's Knife for unreliable stealing method. If you want to
always have the option of stealing, split these three characters up.
Note that, however, this is the ONLY reason to split these characters
up; otherwise the three really don't effect each other one way or
another being in the same team (different weapons, armor, uses, etc.)
In fairness, you can give the Thief's Knife to someone with the Merit
Award, HOWEVER, why would you waste a whole relic slot AND your weapon
slot solely for the purpose of an unreliable Thief?
Gogo vs. Strago: If nothing else, Lore does have a few neat moves here
and there, namely Mighty Guard, White Wind (good healing for Gold
Dragon in Dragon's Den), Force Field (Can save your ass against some
enemies like Holy Dragon in Dragon's Den), so you'll probably want to
split these two up, so Lores can be used in multiple teams. Also has
the added benefit of splitting up Magus Rod users, if you don't like
wasting your Heal Rods or something. If its a Magus Rod thing,
naturally, Relm should be separated from these two as well, being the
third user, though its worth noting Magus Rod isn't QUITE as big a deal
as it use to be, since Swordbreaker is a decent defensive weapon for
them, and Angel's Brush and Stardust Rod work for offensive
supplements, but still, depending on what kind of player you are, that
might still exist.
Anyone relying on Magic Skillset: Try to split any character whose
primary source of damage is �Magic.� Be it Terra, Celes, Relm, some sort
of Mage Locke or something, what have you. This is because these
characters want Soul of Thamasa above all else, and to truly maximize
them, you�ll probably want them all to use it. Splitting up as many of
these characters as possible lets you have 3 teams with adequate Dual
Casting mages and such.
Now, I am NOT saying follow these exactly; these are just some things
to consider when you're making a team. I mean, throwing Terra and
Celes in the same team, when you want to give both Lightbringer and the
Soul of Thamasa isn't a wise idea at all, or using Gogo/Shadow/Locke in
the same team when you like stealing and want to get everything from
every boss doesn't really work either. I can't exactly tell you what
teams to use exactly, but, well, here's a quick example of set ups
considering all the above. Again, DO NOT TAKE THIS LITERALLY, IT IS
MERELY AN EXAMPLE!
More to come later, maybe...
----------------------
9. Equipment Locations
----------------------
This section tells you where to get equips I listed in this FAQ. I
might miss a few since I'm mostly speaking from memory, so contact me
if such happens <_< I'm leaving out silly trades that grant you
something far inferior, like trading the Lightbringer -> Zantetsuken or
Paladin's Shield -> Force Shield at the Coliseum (well, ok, the latter
has some theoretical use, maybe?) Also ignoring Ragnarok Summon cause
frankly, that tends to be the most annoying way to get items, and it
really isn't any easier than the methods I'm listing below due to its
nature, UNLESS its the only way to get multiple of them. Basically, I'm
listing ways to get some, not ALL ways; just cause I didn't list it
doesn't mean I forgot about it necessarily, it means it might be a bad
trade (see above) or just not worth the bother, or its cause I'm lazy
and the weapon is store-bought and there's no point in listing ALL
shops that sell it. Also note that the dungeon names I'm using might
not be the ones the game uses, so don't take those word for word.
Weapons:
Ragnarok: One can be gotten as soon as Locke rejoins after the Phoenix
Cave; go to Narshe and when the man asks you about Esper vs. Sword,
choose the Sword. Note you can't get the Ragnarok Esper by doing this.
The other method involves stealing from Lady on Tier 3 of the final
battle, then making a clear game save. Method two, mind, can be done as
many times as you want, though I should warn you it is tedious after the
first time.
Lightbringer: Bet Ragnarok at the coliseum, this will be your prize if
you win.
Enhancer: Buy it at Nikeah in the World of Ruins.
Zantetsuken: Beat Blue Dragon in the Ancient Castle. You can get more
by refighting him in the Soul Shrine.
Organyx: Bet Ice Brand, Flametongue, or Thunder Blade at the coliseum,
this will be your reward should you win.
Ultima Weapon: In the Cave to the Sealed Gate, sometime after the save
point (which is near the switch with the ninja), there will be switch,
which if you step on it, a room will appear out of a rock, for lack of
a better explanation. This room has Ultima Weapon in it. If you don't
get this before the Banquet, you missed it for good. The other way to
get it is by stealing from Rest on Tier 3 of the Final Battle, and
making a clear game save. Like with Ragnarok, the latter method can be
done an unlimited number of times, for all that you�ll probably get bored
first.
Excalibur: Gotten by defeating Goddess in Kefka's Tower. You can get
more by defeating her as many times as you like at the Soul Shrine
afterwards.
Apocalypse: Defeat Red Dragon in Dragon's Den. You can get more by
betting Save the Queen at the coliseum, or just refighting him at the
Soul Shrine. Note that this must be the SECOND Red Dragon you defeat
in the Soul Shrine (who is followed immediately by Kaiser Dragon), not
the first, whom is the original one you met in the Phoenix Cave.
Impartisan: Steal it from Greater Mantis, which can be fought around
Maranda. You can also win these from Tyranosaurs in the Forest west of
the Veldt (sometimes called "Dinosaur Forest"), but the chances are
1/8, its probably easier to steal.
Valiant Knife: Obtained instantly when Locke rejoins after the Phoenix
Cave, so its impossible to miss as it comes with the one character who
can use it.
Swordbreaker: Buy it at Maranda in the WoR.
Wing Edge: One can be found in the Phoenix Cave. Another can be found
in the Cave to the Ancient Castle.
Sniper: Buy it at Jidoor in the WoR.
Zwill Crossblade: Received when you defeat Gold Dragon in Dragon's Den.
You can get more by refighting him in the Soul Shrine; note that this
the second Gold Dragon in the Soul Shrine, as the first one you fight
there is the original one from Kefka's Tower, who if you remember was a
really freaking easy boss that failed in just about every way a boss
can...and debatably isn't the worst Dragon either -_-
Assassin's Knife: Find this in the early rooms of the Sealed Gate.
Like Ultima Weapon, this can be missed permanently. More can be gotten
only by summoning Ragnarok on Ninja, Outsider and Covert.
Thief�s Knife: Find in the Treasure House in Narshe. If you want more,
Veil Dancers in Zozo have them as a rare steal (their common is a Hi
Potion, FYI.). Dadaluma also has this as his Rare drop, so you may get
one if you�re lucky (he usually drops a Twist Headband, mind, and
considering the lack of save points in Zozo, I wouldn�t recommend
continually resetting to get a 1/8 drop from this particular boss.)
Kazekiri: Get this in the Sealed Gate. You can steal another one
beforehand from Number 128. Note that both of these can be missed
permanently (though missing the nonSteal Kazekiri is pretty sad since
its RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU)
Murasame: Find this on the Floating Continent. You can get more by
stealing from Kamui in the Zone Eater.
Mutsunokami: Received by defeating Fiend in Kefka's Tower. You can get
more by betting Radiant Lance at the Coliseum, or by refighting him at
the Soul Shrine.
Zanmato: Received by defeating Holy Dragon in the Dragon's Den. You can
get more by betting the Godhand at the Coliseum, or by refighting Holy
Dragon in the Soul Shrine. Note that this is the second Holy Dragon you
fight, as the first is that pathetic piece of crap of you fought in the
Fanatics Tower originally (which can be refought on the Veldt, as a
random side note <.<) instead of the competent rematch you fought in
Dragon's Den.
Ichigeki: You need this to get Shadow as is <_< >_>. You STILL want to
know where it is? Find it in the Cave on the Veldt. You can get
another in the same way you can get more Assassin's Knives (as in, not
easily!)
Kagenui: Get this in the Fanatic's Tower.
Oborozuki: Get this by defeating Flan Princesses in the Dragon's Den.
You can get more by betting Zwill Crossblade at the Coliseum.
Thief's Knife: Find this in the "Treasure House" in Narshe. You can
get more by stealing from Veil Dancers in Zozo.
Holy Lance: Get one by defeating Holy Dragon in Fanatic's Tower. Note
that despite him appearing in the Soul Shrine and the Veldt, you cannot
get anymore through this method; the Holy Lance is given via a plot
sequence of sorts right after the fight (probably to make it a reward
of the fight, but at the same time, not let you abuse the Veldt with
him.) If you want more, bet Cyan's Katana's at the Coliseum, at least
anything between Murasame through Murakumo, and keep betting what you
win. If you're wondering, that Masamune you get from Cyan's Soul or
Murakumo you get from Red Dragon (Phoenix Cave) are excellent
candidates for becoming Holy Lances.
Radiant Lance: Receive this after defeating Demon in Kefka's Tower.
You can get more either by betting Mutsunokami at the Coliseum, or by
defeating Demon again at the Soul Shrine.
Longinus: Receive this by defeating Storm Dragon in Dragon's Den. You
can get more by defeating him again at the Soul Shrine. Note that this
is the second Storm Dragon you fight in the sequence, as the first is
the one you fought on Mt. Zozo.
Tigerfang: Get this by defeating Death Warden, a Monster in the Box in
the Veldt Cave. You can get more by refighting him in the Soul Shrine
(and after that, for whatever reason you want 3, fighting him on the
Veldt is now available), or by stealing from Great Behemoths in Kefka's
Tower or Dragon's Den.
Godhand: Receive this by defeating Earth Dragon in Dragon's Den. You
can receive more by betting Zanmato at the Coliseum, or by fighting him
again in the Soul Shrine. Note that like the other Dragon's Den
dragons, which by now you should be seeing a trend, he's the second
Earth Dragon you face there, as the first is the guy you face in the
Opera House.
Save the Queen: Receive this by defeating Blue Dragon at the Dragon's
Den. You can get more by betting Apocalypse at the Coliseum, or by
defeating him again at the Soul Shrine. If I have to tell you the
whole "he's the second one you fight" thing again then...oh wait, I
just did, didn't I? Bah, need to stop doing that...
Magus Rod: Received by defeating Earth Dragon at the Opera House. You
can get more by betting Heal Rods (there are only two of these, mind)
at the Coliseum, or by refighting the bastard at the Soul Shrine.
Gladius: Received by defeating Master Tonberry in the Cave to Ancient
Castle, and later, you can kick his ass some more in the Soul Shrine if
you want more of these.
Stardust Rod: Found in a chest in Dragon's Den. Yes, you read that
right; no battles, just in a chest. You can get another by betting that
lone Angel Brush you have; yes, this would be one of the only limited
quantity Dragon's Den equips. I've heard that Plague (the thing that
drops Angel Brushes) is a rare encounter in the Soul Shrine, but I have
yet to have anyone confirm this.
Angel Brush: Received by defeating Plague in Dragon's Den. Another can
be gotten by betting Stardust Rod at the coliseum. See above regarding
the disclaimer.
Fixed Dice: Find this in Kefka's Tower, path 1.
Man Eater: Buy this at Maranda. Additionally, you can get one a little
earlier through a rather obvious chest in Daryl�s Tomb.
Death Tarot: Find this in the cave to the Ancient Castle.
Venom Darts: Buy this at Kohlingen.
Final Trump: Receive this by defeating Ice Dragon in Dragon's Den. You
can receive more by betting Scorpion's Tail at the Coliseum, or by
refighting the guy in Soul Shrine, yada yada yada, its the second one.
Gungnir: Receive this by defeating Neslug in the Dragon's Den. You can
harvest more by betting Longinus at the Coliseum (of which, if you've
been reading this FAQ, you'll notice there's an infinite supply of.)
Bone Club: Umaro comes with this equipped, stapled, duck taped, and
possibly super glued to him as well. The point is, you don't need
anymore, don't bother looking for anymore.
Scorpion's Tail: Defeat Skull Dragon at the Dragon's Den. Get more by
betting Final Trump at Coliseum or by beating him again in Soul
Shrine...if you can't figure out where I'm going by now, you haven't
been reading this FAQ, and probably should be punted.
Shields:
Flame Shield: One is gotten when Locke rejoins the same way as the
Valiant's Knife, another is found in Cyan's Soul. You can get infinite
supply of these by betting Falchions and Ice Shields at the Coliseum.
Ice Shield: One is gotten on Mt. Zozo, another in Cyan's Soul. You can
get infinite of these by betting Crystal Mails and Flame Shields at the
Coliseum.
Thunder Shield: Found on Mt. Zozo and inside the Zone Eater. You can
harvest more by betting Genji Glove, Genji Shield or Gauntlet at the
Coliseum, as well as stealing from Mudd Sudds in Kefka's Tower, fought
in the Coliseum and Kefka's Tower.
Aegis Shield: There are only two of these in the game, period. One is
found on Mt. Zozo, the other is found in a secret room in Kefka's Tower
(its right before the Conveyor Belt.)
Force Shield: One can be gotten by beating Ice Dragon in Narshe,
another gotten in the Kefka's Tower. You can harvest more in the Soul
Shrine by picking on poor old Ice Dragon, but come on, you KNOW he's
asking for it.
Genji Shield: Find in the Fanatics Tower. You can get more by betting
Thunder Shields at the coliseum.
Paladin's Shield: Fight 256 Battles with the Cursed Shield equip, at
the end of the last fight, you will get a message indicating the curse
is lifed. The Cursed Shield will then be replaced with the Paladin's
Shield. As a reminder, battles that Gogo has the shield equipped DO
NOT COUNT.
Tortoise Shield: Rare Steal AND Drop from Basilisk (can be found near
Maranda), can also be gotten by betting Reed's Cloak at the Coliseum.
Crystal Shield: Store-bought in Maranda.
Helmets:
Green Beret: Store-bought in a variety of places, by end game
standards, Albrook is a good place to start, though you should find a
bunch before this mind in a variety of manners that are so straight
forwards, its not worth mentioning.
Priest's Miter: Most anywhere you can buy Green Berets, this will be
available alongside it...so I guess Store-bought at Albrook works here
too?
Circlet: Store-bought in Jidoor in the WoR.
Mystery Veil: Store-bought in Thamasa...in both worlds even!
Oath Veil: Store-bought in Maranda WoR.
Red Cap: One is found on Mt. Zozo, another in Kefka's Tower.
Royal Crown: One is found in Figaro Basement; you can get more by
betting the Hypno Crown or Red Caps (and betting what you win) at the
Coliseum, though I HIGHLY recommend against at least the latter, given
those tend to be the better and more universally useful equip...
Genji Helm: One is gotten in Daryl's Tomb. Another can be gotten as a
Common Drop from Gilgamesh (Note that he has a Rare Drop in Genji
Armor.) Lastly, you can get more by betting Royal Crowns, Hypno Crowns
and Red Caps at the coliseum, and betting what you win til you get
this, though I recommend against the Red Caps since they have other
uses (Royal Crown and Hypno Crown tend to not matter enough meanwhile,
so go ahead with those!)
Cat-ear Hood: Bet the Saucer or Impartisan at the Coliseum for this.
Saucer: Steal from Tumbleweeds (found on the same island Doma is), or
by betting Tortoise Shields at the coliseum.
Dueling Mask: Found in a chest in Dragon's Den (yep, no fighting
involved!)
Armor:
Genji Armor: Found inside the Zone Eater's Cave. You can get more of
these by betting any of those animal suits that belong to Relm and
Strago specifically, with the exception of Behemoth Suit, and
continually betting what you win.
Red Jacket: Found in Zone Eater's Cave. You can get more by betting a
Shuriken at the Coliseum and continually betting what you win until it
yields a Red Jacket.
Minerva Bustier: Find in Kefka's Tower. You can get another by betting
the Regal Dress (find in Daryl's Tomb) at the Coliseum. If you want to
keep that lone Regal Dress for pure perfectionist reasons, you can get
this via rare drop or steal (though they are level 99 so I HIGHLY
recommend against the steal part, especially since its rare...) from
Tonberries (NOT to be confused with Tonberry), or by stealing from
Goddess in Kefka's Tower or the Soul Shrine.
Force Armor: Received by defeating Storm Dragon on Mt. Zozo. Another is
gotten in the Fanatic's Tower and Kefka's Tower in chests, and you can
steal one from Guardian (though he has a second steal, and is a high
level, so I recommend against this), as well as its a rare drop from
Shield Dragons in Dragon's Den. For a less random chance to harvest
these, Storm Dragon can be refought in the Soul Shrine and will still
drop the armor.
Mirage Vest: Bet the Thornlet at the Coliseum. Thornlet can be
obtained by stealing from Hidon in Ebot's Rock (who yes, can be
refought.) Note though that he has two steals, the other being a
Teleport Stone, so this isn't exactly the easiest of things to get. An
alternative method for that Thornlet would be to use Ragnarok's
Metamorphose on Ahriman in Kefka's Tower (check the room where you
fought Gold Dragon) and hope things turn out the way you want (Gogo�s
Mimic can come in hand here.) Basically, yes, there is no quick and easy
way to get this armor.
Magus Robe: Buy this at Maranda in the WoR.
Black Garb: Buy this at Jidoor in the WoR.
Reed Cloak: Rare Drop from Sprinters (found near Maranda among other
places in the WoR) and a Rare Steal from Tyranosaurs (found in Dino
Forest near the veldt.)
Behemoth Suit: Defeat King Behemoth in the Veldt Cave and you will get
2 of these (one for each form he has.) You can then refight him on the
Veldt and get two more each time! No, don't worry; he's actually a
pretty easy fight to get into if you attempt this ASAP as the only
formations that share his Pack are things in Kefka's Tower, so you WILL
be insured to fight him each cycle.
Snow Scarf: Umaro comes with one genetically spliced with his skin...or
just a forced initial equip that you can't remove much to your dismay.
Now, for how to get Snow Scarfs you will CARE about, bet the Behemoth
Suit at the Coliseum, and I just told you how to get those.
Relics:
Bone Wrist: Find in Dragon's Den.
Berserker Ring: Find this in the Veldt Cave.
Blizzard Orb: Find this in the Ancient Castle
Master's Scroll: Defeat Samurai's Soul in Ancient Castle to get this.
You can refight him in Soul Shrine for more of these.
Soul of Thamasa: Find atop the Fanatic's Tower; you can only get more
of these by stealing from Glutturns in the Soul Shrine, as a RARE steal
(so I was told), and they are really high leveled, and apparently, its
the ones who like to hit you with Ultima, so you might want to think
twice before you start getting excited about a second one...
Dragoon Boots: Store-bought in Tzen in the WoR, but you can get a
freebie in Magitek Factory early on.
Dragon Horn: Find it in a chest near Red Dragon in Phoenix Cave. You
can get more by betting Gold Hairpin or Charm Bangle at the Coliseum.
You can also bet Behemoth Suit, for an easy unlimited item to get a
hold of, and repeatedly bet what you win until it yields a Dragon Horn.
Its also randomly dropped by Great Dragons in Dragon's Den.
Genji Glove: One can be gotten from Banon if you denied him 3 times or
denied him at least once and spoke to the Returner in the back. Another
is found in Cyan's Soul (Phantom Train section) and in the Sealed Cave.
Otherwise, its a rare steal from Dragons on the Floating Continent
(which means Veldt Grinding in the WoR! They also have Hi-Potions as a
common steal, so this is even HARDER than most Rare steals), or
Armodullahans in Dragon's Den. Gilgamesh in the Coliseum also has a
Common Genji Glove up for stealing (Genji Shield is the alternative),
though keep in mind he is very high leveled, so your success rate is
likely not going to be very high.
Hero's Ring: Found in a pot in the Future Coliseum north of Kohlingen
(yes, this is permanently missable.) If you didn't get the
Ether/Thunder Rod in the Figaro Cave, then this will be waiting there
as well. Kefka's Tower and Zone Eater Cave have freebie ones with no
strings attached (yay!), and you can pay some 5 digit price for it at
the Auction House in Jidoor. Betting a Guard Bracelet (which can be
stolen from Fiend Dragons) is your only source of LIMITLESS amounts of
these.
Earrings: Store-bought at Albrook in the WoR (you can find a bunch
laying around before this, mind.)
Gigas Glove: Store-bought in Albrook and Jidoor, you can find a free
one on Mt. Kolts mind.
Hyper Wrist: Store-bought in Nikeah in the WoR; you can find a few of
these lying around before this for free, mind. Of them, the only one
worth noting, cause its hidden thus easily overlooked (but not
permanently missable), is in South Figaro basement, in a hidden passage
BEFORE you meet Celes.
Ribbon: You can find two in Kefka's Tower (one hidden, one plain in
site), another in a hidden chest in South Figaro basement, one in
Phoenix Cave, another one in Dragon's Den, and one is found in WoR
Narshe if you didn't pick up the Rune Blade. FINALLY, you can also
steal these from Brachosaurs in the Dino Forest west of the Veldt (or
just do the Coliseum...that's probably easier here...), if you're bold.
Miracle Shoes: Bet Rename Card at the Coliseum for this. You can get
those either by betting Cat-Ear Hood and continually betting what you
win, or by betting an Elixir.
Reflect Ring: Store-bought in South Figaro, Thamasa and Albrook in the
WoR; you can find two of these (one in Narshe, the other in the
Imperial Base by the Sealed Cave, provided you got enough points)
laying around before that for free mind.
Memento Ring: Relm comes with one equipped, you can find another on the
second story of Strago's House hidden in the left hand wall (check that
little crevice spot in the middle.)
Merit Award: Bet Excalipoor at the Coliseum, you will get this (yes,
you get this AND then fight Gilgamesh; pretty sweet deal if you ask
me.) You can get more by betting Cat-ear Hoods at the Coliseum.
Safety Bit: Find in the Fanatics Tower. You can steal more from Fiend
in Kefka's Tower and the Soul Shrine. Using Ragnarok to Metamorphose a
variety of different enemies can yield this as well (like Level 90
Magics, though I highly suggest you find something less deadly...)
Thief's Bracer: Find in the Treasure House in Narshe. You can buy
these in Tzen in the WoR later in the game, should you want more.
Brigand's Glove: Find in Zozo. You can bet the Thief's Bracer for this
in the coliseum as well, should you want more.
Fake Mustache: Find in Zone Eater Cave. You can get more (for Gogo, I
suppose) by stealing from Still Life, found in Owser's House (though only
one of them there; yes, you can fight them on the Veldt, at very least,
if not the Soul Shrine.)
Celestriad: Rare Steal from Galypdes, fought in the Phoenix Cave or the
Coliseum (I highly recommend the Coliseum cause of the Loop between
Murakumo and Holy Lance that gets you one.) And yes, this is easier
than the alternative of beating up the rare enemy in Brachosaur who has
a potential to kick your ass, for an item he only drops 1/8th of the
time.
White Cape: Store-bought in Nikeah in the WoR.
Zephyr Cloak: Store-bought in Nikeah in the WoR.
Muscle Belt: Gotten by beating up Skull Dragon in Kefka's Tower (as
well as beating him up MORE in the Soul Shrine!) Can also be stolen
from Glasya Lebolas on Mt. Zozo, if you want more earlier.
Prayer Beads: Store-bought in Nikeah in the WoR. You can get a freebie
in Doma, mind.
---------------------
10. Character Rankings
---------------------
This section is going to be done in two ways. First, the objective
part, which is just listing characters and how they rank on numerical
statistics, and the average, so you can really see who is "low" in a
stat and such. The 2nd part is the subjective part, which is basically
me incorporating all that analysis mumbo jumbo into rankings and
such?yeah?I'll just post rankings. Note that these stats are assuming
the character is naked without Esper boosts obviously. Character
equipment can alter these things dramatically, so do not take these TOO
seriously; its mostly just FYI or something.
For simplicity reasons, I'm just going to round to the nearest whole
point.
Extra HP:
1. Umaro 60
2. Sabin 58
3. Cyan 53
4. Shadow 51
5. Edgar 49
6. Locke 48
7. Setzer 46
8. Gau 45
9. Celes 44
10. Terra 42
11. Mog 39
12. Relm 37
13. Gogo 36
14. Strago 35
Average: 46
Extra MP:
1. Relm 18
2t. Terra 16
2t. Mog 16
4. Celes 15
5. Strago 13
6. Gogo 12
7. Gau 10
8. Setzer 9
9. Locke 7
10t. Shadow 6
10t. Edgar 6
12. Cyan 5
13. Sabin 3
14. Umaro 0
Average: 10
Strength
1. Umaro 57
2. Sabin 47
3. Gau 44
4. Cyan 40
5t. Edgar 39
5t. Shadow 39
7. Locke 37
8. Setzer 36
9. Celes 34
10. Terra 31
11. Mog 29
12. Strago 28
13. Relm 26
14. Gogo 25
Average: 37
Speed:
1. Locke 40
2t. Shadow 38
2t. Gau 38
4. Sabin 37
5. Mog 36
6t. Celes 34
6t. Relm 34
8t. Terra 33
8t. Umaro 33
10. Setzer 32
11t. Edgar 30
11t. Gogo 30
13. Cyan 28
14. Strago 25
Average: 33
Stamina:
1. Umaro 46
2. Sabin 39
3. Gau 36
4. Edgar 34
5. Cyan 33
6. Setzer 32
7t. Locke 31
7t. Celes 31
9. Shadow 30
10. Terra 28
11. Mog 26
12. Relm 22
13. Gogo 20
14. Strago 19
Average: 31
Magic Power:
1. Relm 44
2. Terra 39
3. Umaro 37
4. Celes 36
5. Mog 35
6t. Gau 34
6t. Strago 34
8. Shadow 33
9t. Edgar 29
9t. Setzer 29
11t. Locke 28
11t. Sabin 28
13. Gogo 26
14. Cyan 25
Average: 33
Attack:
1. Gau 99
2. Umaro 47
3. Sabin 26
4. Cyan 25
5. Shadow 23
6. Edgar 20
7. Setzer 18
8t. Mog 16
8t. Celes 16
10. Locke 14
11. Gogo 13
12. Terra 12
13. Relm 11
14. Strago 10
Average: 25 (yeah, Gau kind of destroys this average; without him,
average is 19)
Defense:
1. Umaro 89
2. Sabin 53
3. Mog 52
4. Edgar 50
5t. Cyan 48
5t. Setzer 48
7. Shadow 47
8. Locke 46
9t. Gau 44
9t. Celes 44
11. Terra 42
12. Gogo 39
13. Relm 35
14. Strago 33
Average: 47
Evasion:
1. Shadow 28%
2. Gau 21%
3. Locke 15%
4. Relm 13%
5. Sabin 12%
6t. Mog 10%
6t. Gogo 10%
8. Setzer 9%
9. Umaro 8%
10. Celes 7%
11t. Cyan 6%
11t. Strago 6%
13. Terra 5%
14. Edgar 4%
Average: 11%
Magic Defense:
1. Umaro 68
2. Mog 36
3. Gau 34
4. Terra 33
5. Celes 31
6. Relm 30
7. Strago 27
8. Setzer 26
9t. Shadow 25
9t. Gogo 25
11. Locke 23
12. Edgar 22
13. Sabin 21
14. Cyan 20
Average: 29
Magic Evasion:
1. Gau 18%
2. Mog 11%
3t. Shadow 9%
3t. Celes 9%
3t. Relm 9%
6t. Terra 7%
6t. Strago 7%
8. Gogo 6%
9. Umaro 5%
10. Sabin 4%
11. Locke 2%
12t. Edgar 1%
12t. Cyan 1%
12t. Setzer 1%
Average: 6%
And that's it for the boring objective stuff. Subjective stuff to come
in a later version <_<
-----------------------------
10. Frequently Asked Questions
-----------------------------
The title is self explanatory. This will be done in a Q&A session. If
you're wondering, I am a lazy bastard so a lot of this is just C+Ped
from the original with terms changed.
Q. Why did you put Gau in this FAQ and not the previous one?
A. Originally, I was told "don't bother giving Gau a half assed
section, just note otherwise." Later on, I realized that Gau kind
should have his own section, if only for objective points, and at very
least, I could give some set up advices on Gau. You'll notice Gau in
this FAQ is a rather small section with little input compared to
others. He's a complex character who to analyze him fully would
require his own FAQ really.
Q. Why do you emphasize so much on equipment, and Magic Power more than
anything else?
A. Alright. First off, Strength is an oddly disappointing stat. Yeah,
it does help damage, but not as much as you'd like. At higher levels,
it makes a bigger difference, but at lower levels, its not enough.
Example? At level 40, on a defense ignoring attack (So damage increase
is less with one that isn't), a Hyper Wrist(+50% Strength) on Edgar
with no Strength boosts of any kind does only 350 more damage; hardly a
10% increase in damage, on attacks like Drill or Chain Saw that do around
3000 or more at that point. Raised in bulk, Strength helps, but again,
not as much as Magic Power does. Stamina was ignored cause it sucks ass,
and Speed cause unless raised in even bigger bulk than Strength, its even
less noticeable due to FF6's ATB. Magic Power helps augment, meanwhile,
not only the stronger attacks in FF6, but also makes the Magic skill set,
probably the best overall skill set in FF6, stronger at that, so having
High Magic Power can really save a character (see Relm, for example)
Why equipment vs. Skill sets? Well, with good equipment, you won't
need a good skill set. Mog is a good example at how Dances are under
whelming in the WoR, but with a good spear, and the Dragoon Combo, he
does enough damage to out power most specials anyway to the point where
you don't care that he's missing a decent unique skill, especially
factoring in his ability to hit 255 Defense fairly easily because of
that Snow Scarf that only he and Gau can use. Meanwhile, someone like
Sabin who relies on one or two attacks seems nice at first, will start
looking fairly lack luster as soon as other characters start gaining
comparable damage, and they'll have other noteworthy reasons to be used.
In the end, unless the skill is truly magnificent, chances are, it will
be outdone by Magic or by variations of the Fight command, since both are
more "Twinkish" than any skill set out there. As an interesting side
note, its for these reasons that Trance is never truly obsolete, since
while other commands start getting outclassed by Fight (or variations of
it), and Magic, Trance simply augments both :) What if you are already
hitting the damage Cap? Trance will still halve all magic damage done to
Terra, so it at very least has defensive applications (and besides,
Lightbringer at level 99 with Master�s Scroll at maxed Strength almost
never hits the damage cap, especially against high defense, so its STILL
useful for damage there!)
You'll really find that a decent skill really doesn't make up for a
good equipment set up at all. The only skill set that can really
offset bad equipment, somewhat, is Rage, but lets not get into that,
and Gogo kind of disproves this some by not being able to anywhere near
the full advantages of it that Gau can.
Q. How big an influence to Strength and Magic Power have on characters?
A. Alright, someone requested I give raw numbers just for an idea. The
following below are damages done at level 40, and before factoring in
defenses, weaknesses, random variance, Hero Rings, what have you, since
they are ALL multipliers of sorts, so everything gets affected equally
(meaning while the raw damage might change, proportionately speaking,
they'll remain the same.)
Strength's Difference:
The following involves an Imp Sabin with his base Strength (47 which is
game best, nixing Umaro) against an Imp Gogo with his base Strength
(game's worst Strength at 25), both using Impartisans (this gives both
255 Attack.) The Strength difference is 22, if you're curious (47
vs. 25)
Sabin's Damage: 3500
Gogo's Damage: 3090
A 400~ damage difference, considering that Sabin has nearly double Gogo's
Strength, he only manages to do about 12% more damage at level 40.
Given this, you can probably tell that Hyper Wrist would only make
Sabin's damage go up by another 500 damage at best, meaning with a 45
point edge on Gogo, having nearly TRIPLE Gogo's Strength at that, he
does roughly 30% damage more. Those aren't very good ratios, considering
the numbers we're using.
Note that with weaker equips, the damage difference won't change, so
Proportionately, Sabin's damage would be higher. Granted, Sabin and
Gogo should never really have equal Attacks (well...now with the
Scorpion's Tail, Gogo might get somewhere close...), so this is just
pure hypothetical scenario. Realistically speaking, Sabin should beat
Gogo with his physical damage, at least before factoring in special
aspects like Elemental Affinities or random spell casts anyway.
Magic Power Differences:
For this, I'm using Relm with her base Magic Power (44, game best)
against Cyan with his base Magic Power (25, game worst), both casting
Flare (60 Spell Power, even ignores Defense, so these values will be
accurate!). Note this is a 19 Point Magic Power difference.
Relm's Damage: 3514
Cyan's Damage: 2099
That's a 1415 Damage increase, or proportionately speaking, 67% more
damage than Cyan did. Yes, that means even if Cyan uses 2 Earrings,
his damage will STILL be worse than Relm with no magic power
augmentations. If we were to factor in Relm's magic power boosting
equips (Magus Rod, Cat-ear Hood, and Behemoth Suit) against Cyan's
(Circlet and Genji Armor), the difference would grow even further (now
Relm has just gained 10 more Magic Power on Cyan, effectively)
You'll note Relm's base Magic Power is 176% that of Cyan's, which isn't
too far off from the proportional damage increase Relm gets
Unlike Strength, though, you can change any spell for Flare in this
case, and the damage won't change proportionately much at all. This is
cause Magic Power is a multiplier of Spell Power, so every spell gets
the same relative increase in damage with Magic Power (flip side is
that Magic Power is going to have a bigger impact on Ultima's raw
damage than that of Flare's, while a weaker spell like Poison is going
to have a less noticeable increase, assuming none of these moves hit
the damage limit) Meanwhile, Strength is more or less just added onto
Attack, in a sense, so lower Attack = higher proportional
increase in damage.
Ok, now that I've made you sick of the word "proportional", I hope this
answered you're question. You'll note that despite Relm's Magic Power
edge on Cyan being lower than Sabin's Strength edge on Gogo, it makes a
FAR bigger impact on the attacks in question. End result is that
higher base Magic Power means a lot more than higher base Strength,
same rule applies for the ability to augment those stats.
Q. Why did you skip Merit Award in most cases?
A. Merit Award starts creating character clones, really, and then it?s
a "use who you like" concept. See, yes, you can make Sabin a great
Mage with 128% Magic Evasion and high Evasion, using the Merit Award to
give him Lightbringer and Force Armor, along with a Soul of Thamasa,
but�what does this prove about Sabin? Absolutely nothing, its more so
explaining just how good the set up is in general.
However, the Merit Award does help some characters out in ways that
others can't really take advantage of. For example, Merit Award on
Terra lets her use Fixed Dice, which leads to a mean combo of Master�s
Scroll + Fixed Dice + Trance for some really nasty damage on bosses
(remember, the only thing Fixed Dice don't ignore are Multipliers) That's
a
combination that no other character can really apply (for all that,
beyond novelty, its not worth it, likely) Or note how Shadow can get
128% Evasion and Magic Evasion and STILL have a relic slot open, making
him near invincible with a shred of flexibility left, which is
something only HE can do. Basically, Merit Award can help a character,
but it's rare that it actually gives a unique use to that character.
Q. Why didn't you list X Relic in any set up? Don't tell me you have
some beef with that like the Merit Award!
A. *Smacks Self* Yes, I can't believe I forgot to point this out?so
I'll point it out here!
Basically, a lot of the "Good" relics are well, Filler Relics, as I
like to call them. No, I don't mean filler in the bad sense, I mean it
more along the lines of that their use is universal that it works well
in just about any set up, if you have room for it. Example?
Take this set up for Shadow:
Oborozuki
Thunder Shield
Red Cap
Genji Armor
As you can see, this is a generally good set up, giving Shadow his best
weapon and armor, a good helmet for Strength Boosts and some defenses
and Thunder Shield for elemental resistance. However, this set up is,
well, generic; it doesn't serve any SPECIFIC purpose. As such, what
Relic to use becomes a tough call. Hero's Ring would be good here,
naturally, cause it lets Shadow do more damage. Alternatively, a
Miracle Shoes works for the added defensive benefits and Haste. Ribbon
wouldn't hurt the set up either, giving you that protection against
pesky status effects. See what I mean? None of these Relics serve a
specific purpose for THIS set up, more they serve the same general
purpose for any set up.
See, that's what I mean by "Filler Relic". Its not a negative
Thing�more so the reverse. It means the relic is not reliant on set
ups to effect their worth (usually, anyway. Ribbon, for example, loses
a lot of value on a 128% Magic Evasion set up), so they can be used for
just about any set up.
The following Relics are what I deem "Filler Relics" and what uses they
have:
Miracle Shoes: Nice set of positive status effects, good for defenses
and more speed. Added bonus, it immunes Slow and Seizure as well.
Ribbon: Status Immunity, what's not to love?
Safety Bit: Immunes some key big status effects, most notably instant
Death since the Ribbon does *NOT* cover that. Note that Relm and
Shadow should use the Memento Ring instead, since its identical, yet
doesn't interfere with other characters, as Safety bits are not the
easiest things to get your hands on.
Reflect Ring: So long as you don't need healing, or have ways to heal
through it (White Wind comes to mind), this is a nice defense against
Magic.
Celestriad: I'm not a fan of these things (due to Osmose), but others
are, so figured I'd mention them; nice convenient Relic since it lowers
all MP Costs to 1.
White Cape: Immunes some big status effects, raises Magic Evasion, and
both defensive stats
Zephyr Cloak: Boosts both evasion stats for some added defense on both
ends
Prayer Beads: 20% more evade, nice for covering physical weaknesses.
Hero's Ring, Gigas Glove, Earrings: All are damage boosts, good for
just about any set up. Hero's Ring is obviously the best, though its
also the hardest to get and often, Earrings and Gigas Glove work enough
for set ups ANYWAY, since many set ups are geared around one kind of
damage (be it physical or magical). As a side note, a second Hero's Ring
has no more impact than putting an Earrings in that slot, as the physical
side does NOT stack.
Muscle Belt: More HP doesn't hurt, if you want focus on taking hits as
best as possible, especially to defense ignoring attacks, this is the
relic to use.
Note some of these MAY have been listed in some set ups already, but
that likely means you can remove them FROM the set up, if you wish to
alter it slightly (again, relics tend to be flexible, unless they are
absolutely crucial for a specific set up. Example? Dragoon Boots
and/or Dragon Horn on Mog for a physical set up is one that's relic
dependant) though I did my best to not factor these in unless
absolutely necessary (White Cape for 255 Magic Defense set ups, Prayer
Beads and Zephyr Cloak for perfect evasion set ups come to mind.)
Yes, other good relics do exist, but they are either:
A. Too situational (Dragoon Boots/Dragon Horn, I'm looking at you)
B. Too Elusive for most of the game (Master's Scroll and Soul of
Thamasa come to mind)
C. Typically a worse version of something already up there (Gold
Hairpin is an inferior Celestriad, for example, or Guard Bracelet is
Marvel Shoes w/out the Regen or Haste, etc.)
D. Just flat out aren't worth wasting a relic slot on in general (Back
Guard comes to mind)
So yeah, don't worry, I didn't forget about them (ok, yes, I did, but
lets not get into that <_< >_>), nor do I hate them, its more like I
was too enwrapped in thinking of relics that fit set ups nicely that I
just didn't feel that mentioning "Filler Relics" was worth it. That,
or it was a tough choice to choose what relic would work best, so I
took the lazy way out, and just listed them here, and mentioned a "fill
that spot with whatever you like." Truth be told, it is hard to decide
which of the above relics work best, so I'll let you decide, based on
your playing style. Still can't decide? Then pick them out of a hat
or something, or just blindly choose the first one that comes to mind,
though, at least try to apply SOME common sense when choosing the relic
(like White Cape is outright needed in 255 Magic Defense set ups that
Gau, Mog and Terra can use.)
Q. You mention a lot about ammo weapons for Shadow regarding Throw.
What are good weapons for throw, and where can I get them?
A. ...ok, yeah, I should be smacked for not mentioning this earlier
*gets smacked* Damn it! Smack me *AFTER* I finish this *Gets smacked*
...geez, fine, whatever, I'll just get to the point *gets hit by a
truck* ...now you KNOW that was uncalled for...
Anyways, I'm not listing EVERY weapon's location, only things that
might be worth bothering getting in bulk. For example, while Darts are
the strongest weapon you can buy in the WoB that can be thrown, they're
too costly to really consider at this point, so not going to factor
them in. Similarly, while you can throw Fire Rods for some Fire damage
early on before Flametongues can be bought, more often than not, the
cheaper Fire Scroll will do more damage anyway (Flametongues, due to
being somewhat stronger than Fire Rods, and getting indirectly inflated
from higher levels benefiting physical attacks more, given you'll be
throwing them later, actually will start out damaging Fire Scrolls, and
possibly Firaga as well.)
First off, the Throw Exclusives were already noted in Shadow's own
section, so if you want to know how to get those, just look up. For
NON Throw Exclusives...just see below. Note that I am NOT going to
list EVERY way to get these weapons, much like I did with equipment,
just listing the easiest ways (or in the case of an item being
storebought in multiple shops, just the first shop that comes to mind.)
Sakura: Bought in Albrook and post-Magitek Factory Narshe weapon shop.
Note that this is the only way to get this weapon, and its by far
Shadow's best method of Wind elemental damage outside of the Zwill
Crossblade, which is a pain in the ass to horde (requires lots and lots
of Soul Shrine fighting...). If you don't stock up on this before you
finish the Floating Continent, its gone for good.
Trident: Bought in Maranda and post-Magitek Factory Narshe in the WoB,
and in South Figaro in the WoR. I advice you stock up on this later
more so than earlier, since Water Scrolls are probably stronger in the
WoB due to how Magic and Physical algorithms work. In anyway, useful
for some consistent Water damage.
Flametongue: Store-bought in Albrook in the WoR. Best source of Fire
Damage in some cases.
Ice Brand: See Flametongue, replace "Fire" with "Ice" especially since
Shadow has no "Ice Scroll" (granted, Blizzaga exists...)
Thunder Blade: See the last two, just this is the lightning version.
Holy Rod: Best easily renewable source of Holy damage via Throw.
Store-bought in Thamasa in the WoR.
Gravity Rod: Best source of Earth damage, buy it in Maranda in the WoR.
To be honest, though, I wouldn�t bother stocking up on these; the number
of Earth weak enemies can be counted on your hands, and several of them
have easier weaknesses (elemental or status) to exploit anyway.
Poison Rod: Buy it in post-Magitek Factory Narshe. Unlike Sakura
though, while the only shop that sells this weapon goes away when you
reach the WoR, you CAN still get more of these from Twinscythe's in the
Veldt Cave, who have them both as a drop and a steal, should you need
to restock.
Holy Lance: Best source of Holy Damage for Shadow, if you are really
bold, steal Murasame's, Masamune's or Murakumo's from wherever, and
keep betting those at the Coliseum, and then bet what you win to get
these. I don't recommend this, mostly listing for completion (I am NOT
going to mention Excalibur though, let alone Zanmato...)
Impartisan: Strongest weapon you can get in bulk, without having to
beat up the Final Boss repeatedly. Steal from Greater Mantis for
easiest way to get these.
Falchion: Buy in Maranda WoR. This is a bit worse than Pinwheel for
single target non-elemental damage, but its faster to stock up on
though far more expensive.
You can throw other stuff, yes, but these should be things to look out
for mainly, hence why I mentioned them.
Q. You mention getting �Strong Spells� for mages and such. What counts
as that for x part of the game?
A. �yeah, I probably should have elaborated. First off, the WoB its
pretty simple, as all that�s available are the Ara Spells and Bio as far
as good damage. The Ara spells take priority, given the amount of
weaknesses they can hit among the 3 of them (and fastest way to learn
Thundara for most of the game teaches you Fira and Blizzara along the way
anyway), though Bio is learned somewhat faster.
But those are obvious. The more important thing is probably the WoR.
Assuming we�re ignoring Ultima cause that spell is cheap, evil,
overpowered, and silly (and stupidly obvious as an answer)? Well,
there�s a number of good spells that give your mages decent damage.
Those spells are the following, and I�ll list what Esper teaches them
andhow fast! If you�re curious what spells Terra/Celes learn naturally,
and at what level, refer to their own section. In general, most WoR
spells they get are too high that you�ll get them faster through Espers.
Firaga: Best Fire elemental spell in the game, and hits a ton of boss
weaknesses in the WoR to boot.
Taught by: Phoenix (x3), Valigarmanda (x1)
Blizzaga: Ice version of Firaga, self explanatory! Ok, doesn�t hit as
many weaknesses on bosses, but not the point!
Taught by: Valigarmanda (x1)
Thundaga: Lightning damage and such. Dare I say more?
Taught by: Valigarmanda (x1)
Holy: Not quite as strong as the �Aga series (odd, considering Holy in
most FF games is considerably stronger�), but still solid, and can nail a
few extra weaknesses. Has a downside of not being MT though.
Taught by: Alexander (x2)
Flare: Good ST Non Elemental damage, and ignores defense so its damage is
consistent. In general, this spell will be about even to an �Aga
assuming Middling Magic Defense and no elemental concerns.
Taught by: Bahamut (x2)
Meteor: The MT Counterpart of Flare, for the most part, with the added
bonus of ignoring Reflect. Not particularly useful on bosses, but good
for crowd control.
Taught by: Odin (x1), Crusader (x10)
Quake: A stronger version of Meteor, though with elemental double
edgedness, and can�t hit fliers. Despite what the FC may make you think
due to all the fliers, most of the WoR enemies do NOT Float, so this
spell ends up being rather exceptional at dealing with groups. Just
remember to always have either Gaia Gear, Paladin�s Shield or Float
status on your team before casting it, or else you�ll be taking damage
too! Actually, with Gaia Gear, you can turn this into a HEALING spell,
though it dramatically compensates your defenses.
Taught by: Midgar Sormr (x3)
Meltdown: An improved version of Quake with different elements. This
spell hits really hard, though unlike Quake, blocking Fire/Wind isn�t
quite as easy as just simply casting Float. Its also gotten much later,
so its only particularly useful in Kefka�s Tower/Dragon�s Den. Still,
best spell you�ll get for groups barring Cheap Overpowered Blue Dome of
Destruction. Just remember to have something that immunes either Fire
(like Red Jacket) or Wind (like Thunder Shield) on your entire team.
Like with Quake, you can make this spell heal you in addition to doing
damage, using Fire absorbing equips like Flame Shield (Wind absorbing
equips are somewhat�lacking�in this game), and the defensive downsides
are somewhat less prevalent.
Taught by: Crusader (x1)
Flood: Best Water damage most of your team can get. A bit weaker than
most of the above spells, but its an extra element, and its another spell
that ignores reflect, which is nice for Fanatic�s Tower. Decent
supplement if other characters are learning stuff.
Taught by: Leviathan (x2)
Ultima: Best. Spell. In. The. Game. Hands. Down. For. Offensive.
Purposes. If you get this spell, all other attack magic becomes
completely worthless, outside of more damage to time, but that�s like
saying �Knights of the Round isn�t the best spell cause it takes too
long, even though it does almost 13x that of Bahamut Zero!� for FF7.
Seriously, if you have this spell, the only other attack spell worth
ANYTHING is Meltdown, and only for those gimmick set ups. Yes, I know
I said I�m going to ignore it, but I lied, and instead just listed it
last <_< >_>
Taught by: *Ragnarok (x1), Paladin�s Shield (x1)
*To avoid confusion, this is the ESPER that teaches it. The Sword does
not teach Ultima.
As a reminder, most of these spells are taught on a summon with pure
offense, so they serve as a good option during the time the character is
learning the spell. Bahamut is particularly worth noting, being rather
exceptional in power, and its only real downside is Once Per Battle.
Alexander, Valigarmanda, Leviathan and Midgar Sormr are all varying
levels of decent, but all have some sort of elemental thing to work with
(not a big deal with Alexander, but comes up all the time with
Valigarmanda.) Additionally, Midgar Sormr can�t hit fliers. Crusader is
a damage summon�except it probably will kill your team as well, so I�d
advise staying away from it.
More to come in later versions...maybe...or not...or you can stop
hoping and just move on with your life...
-----------
12. Credits
-----------
More or less C+Ped from the previous FAQ given its most of the same
nonsense...
First, I'd like to thank Squaresoft for making such a fine game. Even
after many years, it remains one of my favorites (and I've played 100+
RPGs?not to brag >.>)
Next, I'd like to thank CjayC for making Gamefaqs, and letting this FAQ
be posted there.
Another message of gratitude (Does that make any sense?) given to those
who supported me on this FAQ, mostly those from the FF6 General Board.
I'd like to thank Master Zed and NeoElfboy for helping me with a few
random things (be it reading my random snippits, giving some opinions,
etc.) in this FAQ. Sure, wasn't needed, and I know it was annoying,
but still, its nice to get some outside opinions from other experts.
Thanks to Nephrite making the first attempts at "De-meeping" the FAQ
And lastly, I'd like to give a really clich� and silly thanks to you,
the reader, for reading this FAQ?ok, I'll shut up.
Well, that's it for the Character FAQ of FF6. I hope you enjoyed it,
as it took me a long time to write this, and I put a lot of effort into
this. Anyway, should you need help, contact me in the ways I mentioned
earlier. I hope this FAQ helped give you insight on the characters of
FF6, and that you'll not get drawn in by some misconceptions (whatever
those maybe) again.
Anyway, this is Meeplelard saying good bye, and good luck in the future
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