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Dragons' Den - Earth Labyrinth Enemies
Dragons' Den - Burning Labyrinth Enemies
Dragons' Den - Flame Labyrinth Enemies
Dragons' Den - Inner Eye Labyrinth Enemies
Dragons' Den - Dragon Temple Enemies
Dragons' Den - Grand Cavern Enemies
Dragons' Den - Cloister of Trials Enemies
Dragons' Den - Kaiser's Breath Enemies
Dragons' Den - Holy Palace Enemies
A special, late-game dungeon added to newer editions of Final Fantasy VI, the Dragons’ Den is one of the game’s ultimate challenges. It appears on the world map as a Pac-Man shaped island just off the coast of the Dragon’s Neck Coliseum, one of the most northwestern locations on the world map. In order to unlock the Dragons’ Den you must first defeat the Eight Dragons.
Attempt to land on the island’s sole tree and you’ll be forced to create three parties of four members, similar to the setup in Kefka’s Tower. Be prepared to enter this place with a stronger party than you’d have for Kefka’s Tower, though, as this is the most difficult dungeon in Final Fantasy VI. You'll want to stock up on lots of restorative items, as this place is by far the longest dungeon in the game.
One other thing: You do not gain AP in the Dragons’ Den. Your characters should already have all the spells they'll need upon entering. At a minimum you should make sure they all have the best restorative spells: Curaga, Arise, Reraise, and Esuna. That said, you should still equip Magicite on everyone, as you'll gain plenty of experience - and levels - and bonus stat points - as you explore the Dragons' Den.
As with Kefka's Tower, we’ll separate into Parties One, Two, and Three. You'll be swapping between them on a regular basis, so make sure they're well-balanced. Putting two strong attackers and two good spellcasters in each party is a good idea.
There are two entrances to the Dragons’ Den when you enter. Check out the right entrance to start. Inside as you head northeast you’ll find a variety of Seals. These Seals are kept in place by their respective elemental dragons - yes, they’re back for another round - and you need to find and destroy the dragons to get through these passages. This first area has some fairly standard enemies, the only exception being the otherwise-innocuous Vilia. These ladies can charm your characters into taking physical hits. Magic will help you avoid party wipes.
Head east and north through this passage and, soon enough, you’ll hit your first boss battle.
Ice Dragon
HP: 32,000
Weakness: Fire
Immune: Poison
Making a return from the snow fields of Narshe, the Ice Dragon is a bit trickier this time around. It uses the following attacks:
- Normal melee attacks
- Freeze, which inflicts Stop on a single target
- Blizzaga, an Ice spell
- Snowstorm /Avalanche, Ice spells against your whole party
- Freezing Dust / Northern Cross, Ice spells that can Freeze one or more targets
Upon entering the battle the Ice Dragon splits into four, and you’ll basically have to fight four bosses. The Ice Dragons usually attack and counterattack with physical hits, making the effects of Vanish quite handy, but they also use enough magical attacks that Vanish won’t last for long. For most of the battle you'll have to deal with physical attacks, though as their numbers dwindle you'll see more Ice-based magic.
Either put your team members in the back row to cut down on damage and focus grouped Firagas at the Ice Dragons or, with one character focusing on healing, concentrate on one dragon at a time. Any piece of equipment that nullifies Ice damage will make this battle a lot easier, especially since the Ice Dragons hit your whole party with Absolute Zero upon defeat.
You’ll gain the Final Trump, Setzer’s ultimate weapon, for defeating the Ice Dragon(s). You’ll also eliminate three Seals in the first part of this area, granting you access to more of the Dragons' Den.
If you continue north as Party One you’ll find a chamber filled with lava. Go south of the doorway to find a chest containing a Hi-Ether, then head west of the entrance to find a button. Don’t worry about it just yet.
Jump to whichever team you designate as Party Two and follow Party One into the right cave. The very first path leading north takes you to a button that opens a passage in an adjacent tunnel. Hop to Party Three and, entering the left cave at the entrance, you can go through this new doorway. Inside is a button in the lava room that creates stepping stones to the south of the button. Return to Party One and guide them back to the entrance and through this same open passage. Hop across the stepping stones to find a Rename Card.
Remove Parties One and Three from this small area. Send Party One back to their button, past the battleground with the Ice Dragon, then send Party Three through the door to the right of the passage to the Rename Card. A stepping stone here leads to a button that creates another set of stepping stones. Send Party Two through the western passage in the room with three doorways. Far to the north, back in the lava area, you can jump south to another button. This creates a stepping stone in front of Party Three.
Parties Two or Three can now fight the dragon sitting on the central island in the lava. Hop over and take it on. Go with the team that has the most special attacks.
Storm Dragon
HP: 62,000
Weakness: Lightning
The gusty terror of Mt. Zozo is back. The Storm Dragon uses the following attacks:
- Normal melee attacks
- Icarus Wing, a strong physical attack against a single target
- Cyclonic / Tornado, spells which badly reduce everyone's HP
- Leaf Swirl, a non-elemental spell against the whole party
- Aero, a Wind spell against the whole party
The Storm Dragon kicks things off with Cyclonic, sapping everyone’s HP. It then switches to a mixture of physical attacks and full-party attack spells. This opening salvo will set the tone for the rest of the fight, one in which you’ll be constantly struggling to keep your HP high against the Storm Dragon’s brutal physical attacks and special abilities. Partway through the battle the Storm Dragon boosts its Evasion and Speed.
Put your fighters in the back row to deaden the Storm Dragon’s attacks - the Wind Dragon's Evasion is too high to hit with normal attacks anyway - then go at it with special abilities that are guaranteed to work. Bushido, Blitz, Throw, and some of Gau’s Rages work nicely to inflict damage. You can also use Flare or Ultima to bypass its evasion, though you may want to preserve your MP for casting Curaga.
You’ll receive the Longinus, Edgar’s ultimate weapon, for defeating the Storm Dragon. You’ll also unlock the dungeon’s one Seal of Wind, to the east.
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Regardless of which team fought the Storm Dragon, send someone (we’ll stick with Party Two) back to hit the button to the south of the central island, creating stepping stones that lead north. This allows Party Three to hop across to a chest containing an Elixir. To the right is a passage leading out of the lava room, and to the right of here in the next area is a room where you can save and reshuffle the members of your parties - though only if all three parties are in this room simultaneously. You can save and use a Tent as any of the three parties so long as someone is standing on the save point in this room.
Send Party Two through the door to their left in the lava room, next to the western button. You’ll wind up in the same general area as Party Three, just a ways to the west. Head northeast to the save room and you can step on a button, south of the save room entrance, that allows Party One to get up here as well. This is your chance to reshuffle party members, if you want.
Choose one party to head west from the save room, back to the western-most doorway back to the lava room. North of this doorway is another doorway, leading to the third dragon.
Earth Dragon
HP: 58,000
Weakness: Wind, Water
Absorbs: Earth
Once a fan of the opera, the Earth Dragon has settled down in the Dragons' Den. It uses the following attacks:
- Normal physical attacks
- Savage, which inflicts heavy damage on a single target
- Magnitude 8 / Landslide / Quake, Earth spells that hit the whole party
- 50 Gs, which removes Float status from your whole party
Earth Dragon is similar to its old form, though this one is much stronger. It spends the fight either slashing at your party or using one of its three Earth spells, which can also heal the Earth Dragon. Once it takes enough damage the Earth Dragon becomes enraged, allowing it to use multiple normal attacks per round. Since these attacks can do 6,000+ HP per round, your team is going to be in trouble.
Start by equipping items that absorb or otherwise avoid Earth attacks. Gaia Gear will absorb the hits, which is handy, while Angel Wings allow your team to avoid damage without losing Float status... which they will if you just use the Float spell, since Earth Dragon can also use 50 Gs to drag them out of the air. Get Vanish onto at least one of your party members once the Earth Dragon is enraged to avoid its physical attacks, then continue chipping away until it croaks.
You’ll obtain the Godhand, Sabin’s ultimate weapon, for defeating the Earth Dragon. You’ll also break the Seal of Earth to the east and the southeast, opening two new areas for exploration.
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Send two parties to the save room and use one of them to create a path back to the south. Send the second party southeast and you’ll find a cave door that leads to the Dragon Temple, an area lined with blue-grey stone walls. Head north and you'll find a turtle that you can hop on to cross a four-way, watery intersection. Use the turtle to travel north and hit the switch on the other side. This opens a door in another area you’ll be visiting soon.
That done, go up the stairs on either side of the switch and you’ll find a boss waiting on the walkway above.
Blue Dragon
HP: 57,000
Weakness: Lightning
Slithering back home from its former resting place in the Ancient Castle, the Blue Dragon is ready to rumble. It uses the following attacks:
- Normal physical attacks
- Blue Fang, which can inflict Stop on a single target
- Aqua Breath / Tsunami / Flash Rain / El Niño, Water spells against your whole party
- Rippler, which trades positive and negative status changes between the user and a single target
The Blue Dragon has barely changed at all since the previous fight, besides its boosted stats. It relies on Water attacks to do most of its damage, throwing in Blue Fang and Rippler to mix things up a bit.
The Blue Dragon can still be dangerous, though Curaga offsets the damage from its Water attacks, and as long as you're not terribly unlucky you can just wait until Stop status wears off. This is one battle where making your party members Imps beforehand can actually prove useful, as the Imp equipment (Reed Cloak, Saucer, Tortoise Shield) all absorbs Water.
You’ll receive the Save the Queen, Celes's ultimate weapon, for defeating the Blue Dragon. This also opens three Seals, all in places you have yet to visit.
Return the team you used against one of the last two dragons to the save point room. Head east and south until you find a passage that was originally blocked by a Seal of Earth. Follow the passageway west and you’ll find another dragon waiting, just beyond a doorway.
Red Dragon
HP: 59,000
Immune: All damage
The Red Dragon of the Phoenix Cave makes a comeback, and it's a nastier fight this time around. The Red Dragon uses the following attacks:
- Normal physical attacks
- Red Fang, which can inflict a OHKO to a single target
- Firaga / Meltdown / Blaze / Flare Star, Fire spells
- Ultima, a non-elemental spell against your whole party
This is one of the weirder fights in Final Fantasy VI. The Red Dragon is completely immune to all of your attacks, and you absolutely cannot kill it the way you’d kill the other 99% of monsters. To win this battle you must, instead, wait it out.
The Red Dragon spends its time trying to batter you with a slew of Fire-based spells, as well as strong physical attacks that can OHKO your characters if you aren't protected against Instant Death. You have to keep your team alive and healed throughout this bombardment, ignoring all offensive options and focusing entirely on defense. Curaga, Arise, Reraise, Protect, Shell, Hastega, anything you can use to increase your team’s survivability is key to winning the fight.
Equipment that resists or absorbs Fire, as well as increases your Magic Defense, is useful against the Red Dragon. So, too, is putting your team in the back row, since they never need to do any damage. You’ll know Red Dragon is about to die when it uses Ultima and Flare one after the other, and if you want a hope of survival you’ll need at least two members alive after Ultima goes off. Force Armor and Force Shields can help, as will casting Shell on your party members. Casting Reraise on party members will also bring them back after they die.
You’ll receive the Apocalypse, Terra’s ultimate weapon, for outlasting the Red Dragon. You’ll also eliminate several Seals.
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Head south from the Red Dragon's room until you see a dead end. There's a hidden Magicite Shard in the dead end. Go back north and then east of the dead end to find a button. A bit further east and then south of the button you'll find a visible chest, this containing a Teleport Stone. Grab it, then step on the button. This will make a nearby rock disappear. Send another party through the gap you’ve just created to find another button which will make another rock disappear. The third party gets to pop through this second gap.
Send one of the southern teams, now Party One, to the northeast. You’ll enter a new, cavernous area, appropriately called the Grand Cavern. This area's enemies aren't that bad, with the exception of Armodullahans, which are loaded down with Instant Death attacks. Go north up the stairs in this area until you see a doorway up and to your right. This is another save room. Use it as you please, then go back out and take a left to find yet another new area.
Take a right when you emerge and follow the path north and west, until you find a four-ton weight. Push it off the cliff and onto the button below. That done, head south of the spot where you pushed the weight, across a wooden bridge. Down a blind alley and on your right is an X-Potion. Snag it, then return to the entrance to this area, in the southeast, and go west to find a button. Step on it to create a stepping stone.
Jump to the other party standing on a button, which is now Party Two. Send them through the doorway north of the button. This path leads to a ledge that you can hop across thanks to the stepping stone you revealed earlier. Go down a level and you'll find an intersection in the path. Check to the west to find a partially-hidden chest containing Force Armor. North of here is a Seal that you can't bypass yet.
Hop back to Party One. Return to the previous save room in the Grand Cavern and head south, down the steps, until you see a bridge on your right. This eventually leads to hopping bridges similar to the ones found when recruiting Gogo, including the green-clad jerks that knock you into chasms. Head south once you spot the first of the guards to find a Celestriad, then run and hop your way across the bridges, heading north.
If you're knocked off you’ll wind up in an area filled with powerful enemies, on par with bosses. There are no items, so you don't want to go down here if you can avoid it. If you do get trapped in this area you'll need to follow the path counterclockwise through the tunnels, until you find a beam of light. Step in the light to return to the area above and try again.
If you take a northwestern path across the bridges you'll find an Elixir and an X-Ether. Ultimately you'll be forces east and wind up at the top of a cliff, facing another dragon.
Skull Dragon
One of the two monsters from Kefka's Tower makes a return. The Skull Dragon uses the following attacks:
- A normal melee attack
- Will o' the Wisp, which inflicts Fire-elemental damage on a single target
- Bio, which inflicts Poison-elemental damage and may trigger the Poison status
- Fear, which can inflict Zombie status on one target
- Doom, which inflicts a countdown timer to a KO on a single target
- Lv. 5 Death, which OHKOs any character whose level is divisible by 5
This is an irritating battle until you figure out the trick. The Skull Dragon is much as it previously was, assaulting your team with a slew of status ailments - Imp, Poison, Confusion, Doom, Zombie - and quite often combining them into a single attack, Disaster. Beyond that it has a strong physical attack, but can’t do a whole lot else, so equipping everyone with Ribbons makes the fight much easier. It doesn’t have a ton of HP and has some obvious weaknesses...
... but when you kill the Skull Dragon it immediately regenerates at full HP. You cannot defeat this boss by depleting its health. Instead you have to destroy the Skull Dragon by depleting its MP, via Rasp or Osmose. Put everyone in the back row, then spend every round picking away at the Skull Dragon's MP. This takes a while, given Rasp’s general limit of around 500ish MP, but it’s not that difficult as long as the majority of your party is protected from status ailments. If you have to choose between ailments to avoid, go for Zombie, Imp, and / or Confusion.
You’ll receive the Scorpion Tail, Gogo’s ultimate weapon, for defeating the Skull Dragon. You’ll also unlock a Seal elsewhere, and create a stairway south of the battle spot. This allows you to bypass the bridges.
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If you check the chamber northwest of the spot where you fought the Blue Dragon you'll find a gravestone that advises you to check between ‘molten pools’. The pools are found north of the 4-ton weight you knocked down earlier, in the Inner Eye Labyrinth. You'll find this area through the door near the second save point, in the Grand Cavern, and counterclockwise from the entrance. Check the plain wall between them for a hidden switch.
Check the room to the west of the molten pools. Beyond it you'll find a new area, the Holy Palace. There are three more rooms here, north of the entrance. The middle room is empty, the west room contains a Magus Robe, and the east room, now unlocked, contains a dragon.
Holy Dragon
HP: 55,000
The draconic occupant of the Cultists' Tower is back for revenge. The Holy Dragon uses the following attacks:
- Normal physical attacks
- Heavenly Wrath, a more powerful physical attack
- Curaga, which heals the Holy Dragon
- Holy, a Holy-elemental spell
- Saintly Beam, which inflicts Holy damage to the whole party
- Heartless Angel, which reduces the whole party's HP to 1
Where the original Holy Dragon was pretty tame, this new incarnation is quite powerful. The Holy Dragon loves its Holy-elemental attacks, and bombards you constantly with a combination of Saintly Beam and, every unlucky now and then, Heartless Angel. This can be a deadly combo, as Heartless Angel takes the whole team down to one HP and Saintly Beam finishes them all off.
It goes without saying that resistance to magic or the absorption of Holy attacks takes precedence here. Holy Dragon typically responds to attacks with Curaga on itself, so cast Reflect on the Dragon and then go nuts walloping it with your strongest non-Holy attacks that will not be Reflected back at your party. The Holy Dragon doesn’t have a ton of HP, so once it’s deprived of healing this fight shouldn't take too long.
You'll receive the Zanmato, Cyan’s ultimate weapon, for defeating the Holy Dragon. This will also break two Seals elsewhere in the dungeon…
... one of which, if you left Party Two alone, you should be near. Leap to Party Two back in the room with the 4-ton weight and head north a short ways to find the doorway. Beyond is a save point... and a Seal. Rats.
Manipulate your parties so you get back to the Dragon Temple (the turtle chamber), southeast of the first save room. You'll need to guide at least two parties back to get at the Dragon Temple. You can now get through the eastern passage, across the turtle and on your right. There are four graves in the northeast, each with an incription, and you should check them all:
- ‘GONS’
- ‘THEK’
- ‘INGO’
- ‘FDRA’
North of these four tombstones you'll find the last of the Eight Dragons.
Gold Dragon
HP: 60,000
Weakness: Water
You've almost reached the end of the road. The Gold Dragon uses the following attacks:
- Normal physical attacks
- Mighty Claws, which can inflict Confusion on a single target
- Plasma, a Lightning spell against a single target
- Wave Cannon, a Lightning spell against your whole party
Considering this is the final member of the Eight Dragons, the Gold Dragon is a little underwhelming. It employs an ability similar to Celes’s Runic, automatically absorbing any magic cast by your party. This eliminates the option to heal magically, and your offensive spells are pretty much useless.
The easy way to get past Gold Dragon is to get Vanish on your characters before the fight, allowing you to effectively ignore most of its attacks and assault it with special attacks and normal hits. Barring Vanish, use your strongest items to keep your team healthy and employ special abilities and normal attacks.
You’ll receive the Zwill Crossblade, Locke’s ultimate weapon, for defeating the Gold Dragon. You’ll also unlock the final Seals in the dungeon, paving the way to the final boss.
Take your party north of the turtle and up the stairs. Through the pathway northeast of where you fought the Blue Dragon is a blank tombstone. The message your want to write out on the tombstone is ‘THEKINGOFDRAGONS’. It will open a passage to your right. Head through, bringing a second party with you. (This is a good point to use Teleport and return everyone to the entrance, which takes less time than trying to trek back through the dungeon. Go through the right doorway and head east to find the Dragon Temple.)
There are plenty of stairs in this next area, named the Dragon Temple - Cloister. Down the western flights of stairs you’ll find a Phoenix Down, and if you keep wandering down the western stairs you’ll eventually be guided east, to a staircase up to a door. Inside you’ll find some adjoining chambers that lead to a gleaming teleporter. It takes you to a room containing four chests. They contain the following:
- The top-left chest contains a Ribbon.
- The bottom-left chest contains a Bone Wrist, a powerful relic exclusively for Umaro.
- The bottom-right chest contains an enemy called a Neslug, a familiar shelled enemy that can be killed with Fire-elemental, perfect accuracy attacks. Don't hit the shell or it will OHKO the attacker. The Neslug drops the Gungnir, Mog's ultimate weapon.
- The top-right one contains Plague, a highly evasive creature which will Doom your whole party if you don’t target it with more perfect accuracy attacks. It drops the Angel Brush, Relm's ultimate weapon.
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South of the chests and to the left is another chest containing the Stardust Rod, Strago’s ultimate weapon. Return to the four chests and go right to find another teleporter. Head west to find another teleporter, then go counterclockwise in the next few rooms to find a door, near another teleporter. Look down the stairs to the east for a Ribbon, then look up the stairs to find a dead end... and a darkened square on the floor. This is a switch that creates a door on the stairs to your left.
Take your second team into the Dragon Temple - Cloister and down the eastern flight of stairs from the top. You’ll find an Elixir on the way down to the door, and inside you’ll find a teleporter to a crossroads. To the north you’ll find a Crystal Orb, a Genji Glove, and a battle against five Flan Princesses (right chest). They like to Imp your characters, but are otherwise they’re fairly normal enemies. They’ll drop the Oborozuki, Shadow’s ultimate weapon. To the south of the teleporter you’ll find a Dueling Mask, the closest thing Gau gets to an ultimate weapon.
You’ve now explored the majority of the Dragons’ Den. All that remains is a small room, connected to three points in the dungeon, which lead to buttons. You need to step on all three buttons to get to the end of the dungeon.
The furthest of the buttons you need to reach is found in one of the rear-most sections of the dungeon, where, if you haven’t Teleported, one of your parties should still be sitting, because they’re probably stuck. If you did Teleport out you’ll need all three parties to reach this room, and you’ll have to go through the Inner Eye - Labyrinth. Two of your parties need to be on buttons for the third party to reach a save point in the northwest, and beyond that the path to your destination.
The second-furthest button is in the Dragon Temple, near the tombstones and north of the spot where you fought the Blue Dragon. You need one party to stand on a darkened spot near a save point to open a door in an adjoining hallway. To get both teams here from Inner Eye - Labyrinth you should travel east through the Grand Cavern, to the exit south of where you fought the Skull Dragon. The door opens near a save point.
The final button, which at this point is just a teleportation spot, can be accessed with your remaining party member. Use the turtle room to reach the area with the bridges (Dragon Temple and the Grand Cavern, respectively) and you’ll find a doorway in the northwest corner of the room. This takes you where you want to go. Hopefully you have the party you want, as the final battle of the Dragons’ Den awaits...
Prep
Before you enter this battle, you should do a few things to your selected party:
- Give them the best armor and shields you’ve got by stripping the other two parties. Incline towards elemental resistances and absorbency. Try to cover as many elements as you can on each character. Females have an easier time with this thanks to the Minerva Bustier, and having the Paladin’s Shield makes life much easier for one character. Force equipment is also pretty good, as physical defense isn’t much of an issue.
- Unequip weapons that inflict elemental damage if you plan on attacking normally. Stick with non-elemental damage. This is less of an issue if you’re using special attacks from characters like Shadow, Sabin, Edgar, Cyan, etc.
- Give your party the best relics you have on hand:
- Ribbons are fairly good
- Celestriads will really cut down on your MP expenditure
- The Soul of Thamasa can help you attack and heal on the same turn, which is quite important here
- The Master’s Scroll can do wonders with the right weapon (Fixed Dice or Ultima Weapon)
- Cast Float on your characters. You’ll want to periodically recast Float during the battle, as well. You don’t need Angel Wings.
- Make sure you have several characters who know Curaga, Arise, and Reraise. If you don’t have these spells you’re probably dead. (Though, to be fair, you probably didn't get this far without those spells.
Ready? Let’s do it.
Kaiser Dragon
HP: 65,500
A superboss of epic proportions, Kaiser Dragon is probably the toughest enemy in Final Fantasy VI. This thing could chew up Kefka and spit him out, and now you have to fight it. Good luck!
Kaiser Dragon uses the following attacks, depending on its current chosen element:
- Normal physical attacks
- Last Breath, a powerful physical attack against a single target
- Barrier Change, which shifts Kaiser Dragon's elemental strengths, weaknesses, and spells used
- Firaga / Meltdown / Flare Star, Fire spells
- Blizzaga / Absolute Zero / Avalance / Northern Cross / Southern Cross / Freezing Dust, Ice Spells, some of which Freeze your characters
- Thundaga / Plasma / Gigavolt, Lightning spells
- Aero / Tornado / Gale Cut, Wind spells
- Aqua Breath / Tsunami / El Niño, Water spells
- Quake, an Earth spell against your whole party
- Bio / Venomist, Poison spells which can inflict Poison status
- Holy / Lv.? Holy, Holy spells
- Metal Cutter / Hyperdrive / Ultima, non-elemental spells
- Scintillation, which can inflict Darkness on your whole party
- Disaster, which inflicts a series of status ailments to a single target
- Revenge Blast, which inflicts damage equal to the difference betwee Kaiser Dragon's current HP and its maximum HP to a single target
- Trine, which inflicts Blind and Silence on your whole party
- Reflect ???, which inflicts Blind, Silence, and Slow to any party members with Reflect status
- Mind Blast, which inflicts every status ailment on a single target
- Doom, which adds a OHKO timer to a single target
- Blaster, which can OHKO a party member
- Crypt Dust, which turns a KOed character in a Zombie
- Cloudy Heaven, which adds Doom countdowns to all characters and turns them into Zombies when time runs out
- Reflect / Protect / Shell / Haste, buffing spells
Kaiser Dragon sports a massive attack range, though it only uses a few moves at a time. What it uses depends on its most recent Barrier Change. Several times during the fight Kaiser Dragon swaps elements, and in the process changes its attacks. This also resets the Kaiser Dragon's HP to full. If you hit Kaiser Dragon during the first few phases it will usually retaliate with Hyperdrive, which is strong enough to wipe out its target.
What you're up against after a Barrier Change is easy to predict. If the Kaiser Dragon changes to Earth, expect Quake. If it changes to Fire, here comes Flare Star or Firaga. If it goes to Ice, Absolute Zero gets trotted out. These moves should all be familiar by now. Kaiser Dragon batters your party relentlessly with these spells, sometimes twice per turn, and you’ll either need elemental coverage to survive everything or somebody who can heal on every turn. In short, if you don’t have elemental coverage, you’re dead.
Kaiser Dragon’s Barrier Changes don’t change its weaknesses, and most elemental moves simply do nothing, so it’s best to stick to special attacks and Ultima / Flare to do damage. Expect a lot of countering. Don't bother attacking or you'll just get hit by Hyperdrive and (likely) have to revive the target. Arise anybody who falls and cast Curaga liberally, depending on how much damage Kaiser inflicts with its current element.
You don’t need to move to the offensive until Kaiser Dragon starts using Heartless Angel to lower your HP to one. Curaga away the damage, then use your strongest moves to batter the dragon. Choose one character to stick only with healing duties. You’ll want the character least likely to die. This character should also receive a Reraise. This is very important, as Kaiser Dragon automatically casts Ultima when it runs out of HP, and unless you have a lot of HP on your own side (7,000+) this will likely OHKO your whole team. Reraise prevents a Game Over.
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Defeating the Kaiser Dragon earns you one important reward: The Diabolos Magicite. There's no better Magicite for building up HP on your party members after a level-up. Your victory also unlocks two more things:
- First, you now have access to the Soul Shrine, off the coast of Thamasa. We'll discuss this area in the next section of the guide.
- And, second, you'll unlock a second superboss - though you'll need to make your way back to the Kaiser Dragon's den to fight it. All the way back in, in fact, as it's waiting in the same spot where you just fought Kaiser Dragon.
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Omega Weapon
HP: 65,000
Surprise! If you make the trek back through the Dragons' Den a second time you'll find the Omega Weapon, waiting in the same place where you battled the Kaiser Dragon. It's debatable whether Omega Weapon or Kaiser Dragon is the stronger boss, though it's still leagues stronger than any other monster in Final Fantasy VI, regardless of your stance. Be ready for a painful fight.
The Omega Weapon uses the following attacks:
- Normal physical attacks
- Omega Drive, a stronger physical attack against a single target
- Flare Star, a Fire spell against the whole party
- Absolute Zero / Freezing Dust, Ice spells against the whole party which can inflict Freeze
- Wave Cannon, a Lightning spell against the whole party
- Tornado / Aero, Wind spells against the whole party
- Tsunami, a Water spell against the whole party
- Quake, an Earth spell against the whole party
- Lv. ? Holy, a Holy spell against the whole party
- Lv. 4 Flare / Grand Delta / Forsaken, non-elemental attacks against the whole party
- Delta Attack, which inflicts Petrify against a single target
- Mind Blast, which inflicts every status ailment on a single target
- Lv. 3 Confuse, which Confuses any party members whose levels are a multiple of 3
- Lv. 4 Death, which OHKOs any party members whose levels are a multiple of 4
- Blaster, which can OHKO a single target
- Gravity Bomb, which reduces a single target's HP by half
- Dischord, which halves a character's effective level, weakening them
- Launcher, which hits eight random targets, halving their HP each time
- Missile, which cuts a single target's HP to 3/4 and inflicts Sap
- Vengeance, which removes positive status effects from the whole party
- Heartless Angel, which reduces the HP of all party members to 1
This fight isn't exactly the same as the battle against Kaiser Dragon, but there are similarities. Omega Weapon relies on a massive repetoire of attacks that hit your whole party, an unfortunate number of which can OHKO characters. Status ailments are still a concern, making Ribbons useful, and Lv. 3 Confuse / Lv. 4 Death make it important to have your characters at appropriate levels.
Omega Weapon regenerates twice when defeated, which means that you need to defeat it three times in total. Each time Omega Weapon changes its 'charged' move, used whenever it begins to glow:
- First phase - Grand Delta
- Second phase - Mind Blast
- Third Phase - Forsaken
All three are devastating spells, though Mind Blast is a bit less dangerous in general.
This fight is a balancing act. When your party is feeling fit, go on the offensive and use your most powerful attacks (Ultima, maxed-out special attacks, normal strikes using the Master's Scroll, etc.) Omega Weapon counters a lot of your attacks, so you want every one of them to count. Whenever Omega Weapon inflicts too much pain you need to immediately fall back on healing. Freeze shows up on a regular basis thanks to counters, so you may need to cast Fire on your party to thaw them out again.
There are two things you can use to make this battle a bit easier:
- The Quick spell, learned from the Gilgamesh Magicite
- The Soul of Thamasa, obtained from the Cultists' Tower
The spell allows a character to use two actions per round, while the relic unlocks the Dualcast command, allowing the user to cast two spells per turn - or, with both active, to cast four spells per turn. This will allow you to quickly recover from Omega Weapon's attacks and demolish it with a slew of your own spells, likely Ultima. Without these two options, as well as fighting with a Master's Scroll, this fight can take a very long time. Make sure you heal before attacking, as Omega Weapon may outright KO the attacker with its counters.
You'll receive a Murakumo for defeating the Omega Weapon, which is... not terribly useful at this point in Final Fantasy VI. You can Steal a Megalixir during this battle, though having Locke waste his turns on trying to get the Megalixir is not recommended.