Final Fantasy Boss Guide
Version 2.0
By Amar Kishan on 8/2/01
[email protected]
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The latest version of this FAQ can be found at:
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i.) INTRODUCTION
This is a Boss Guide for Final Fantasy (NES). If you have anything to
add, just contact me at: [email protected]. I hope you enjoy the guide.
If you wish to use this guide for any purposes (other than use for help), please
email me first. This guide is not to be reproduced in anyway without my
permission first. This guide is copyright 1999-2001 Amar Kishan.
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ii.) FORMAT
This guide covers several things in a particular format, which is useful to know
in order to use the guide.

Boss Format:
Name
Location:
HP:
Weakness:
Magic:
Special:
Reward:

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iii.) VERSION HISTORY

2.0
- Added list of special attacks
- Added EXP and GP rewards
- Fixed Format
- New strategies

1.6
- Added Credits

1.5
- Added HURRICANE to the spell list
- Added more explanations
- Added Credits

1
- First version

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iv.) TABLE OF CONTENTS

i.) Introduction

ii.) Version History

iii.) Format

iv.) Table of Contents

I.) Explanation

II.) Special Attacks

III.) Bosses

IV.) Credits/Disclaimer

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I.) EXPLANATION
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In Final Fantasy, all the enemies have a nasty assortment of special
attacks and magic. Let's look at the EYE, for example. It has a magic
list: XXXX, BRAK, RUB, LIT2, HOLD, MUTE, SLOW, and SLEP. If the Eye
chooses to use magic, it will only use the magic in this order, and when
it finishes using SLEP it restarts with XXXX. The same goes for special
attacks. As the bosses get stronger, they tend to use magic and special
attacks more than anything else. They don't have mp limits, either.

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II.) SPECIAL ATTACKS
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Here is a list of the special attacks that the boss use and their effect
(thanks to Ben Siron's guide).

NAME EFFECT
BLAZE Up to 220 damage to the party (Fire)
BLIZZARD Up to 200 damage to the party (Ice)
CRACK instantly kills the party
DAZZLE Stuns one party member
GAZE Stuns one party member
GLANCE Petrifies one party member
HURRICANE Up to 400 damage to the party
INFERNO Up to 384 damage to the party (Fire)
INK Causes darkness to the party
NUCLEAR Up to 400 damage to the party
POISON Up to 260 damage to the party (Poison)
SQUINT Kills one party member
STARE Up to 80 damage to one party member
SWIRL Up to 256 damage to the party
THUNDER Up to 300 damage to the party (Lit)
TORNADO Up to 256 damage to the party

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III.) BOSSES
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GARLAND
Location: Temple of Fiends
HP: 106
Weakness: Fire
Reward: 130 EXP, 250 GP

Strategy: Fighters, thieves, and black belts should attack. Red and Black
Mages should cast FIRE, and White Mages should cast Ruse or Cure.

PIRATESx9
Location: Pravoka
HP: 6 each
Weakness: Sleep
Reward: 40 EXP, 40 GP [Each]

Strategy: Every character should be able to kill a pirate in one hit,
although Black and White Mages may need two hits. If, for some reason,
you have trouble, cast SLEP on the pirates.

WIZARDS (Variable #)
Location: Marsh Cave
HP: 84 each
Weakness: Lit
Reward: 276 EXP, 300 GP

Strategy: The wizards can attack for quite a bit of damage. Have
Fighters, Thieves, and Black Belts attack, while your Red or Black Mages
cast LIT2 to severely damage the Wizards. Not much of a boss, you'll see
these later as normal enemies.

ASTOS
Location: Northwestern Castle
HP: 168
Weakness: None
Magic: RUB, SLO2, FAST, FIR2, LIT2, SLOW, DARK, SLEP
Reward: 2250 EXP, 2000 GP

Strategy: Before fighting him, switch your worst character to the top
position. This character is most likely to be leveled by Astos' RUB
spell. Right after his RUB attack, Astos will cast SLO2, which you should
counter with FAST or TMPR (if it hits an attacker). The best way to kill
Astos is to FAST your big attackers and hope Astos doesn't RUB them out.
Since Astos doesn't have much HP, he'll be gone after a few rounds of good
attacks.

VAMPIRE
Location: Earth Cave
HP: 156
Weakness: Fire, Harm
Special: Dazzle
Reward: 1200 EXP, 2000 GP

Strategy: Have Thieves, Fighters, and Black Belts attack. Red and Black
Mages should cast FIRE of FIR2, while White Mages stick to HRM2 or HRM3
(if you have it). This foe is very easy; he'll appear as a normal enemy
later on.

LICH
Location: Earth Cave
HP: 400
Weakness: Fire, Harm
Magic: ICE2, SLP2, FAST, LIT2, HOLD, FIR2, SLOW, SLEP
Reward: 2200 EXP, 3000 GP

Strategy: This is your first true boss battle. Lich uses ICE2 near the
start of the battle, so it might not help to cast AICE. Also, you'll want
to kill Lich before he uses FIR2, meaning you shouldn't waste time on
AFIR. Cast FAST and TMPR on your heavy attackers (Fighters, Black Belts)
with your Black or Red Mage. Cure or cast HRM2 or HRM3 with your White
Mage (perhaps ALIT as well), and attack with everyone else. Fir3 doesn't
do a lot of damage to Lich, but it does more than your Black Mage could
deal, so use it.

KARY
Location: Gurgu Volcano
HP: 600
Weakness: Stun, Sleep
Magic: FIR2, DARK, FIR2, DARK, FIR2, HOLD, FIR2, HOLD
Reward: 2475 EXP, 3000 GP

Strategy: This is your second true boss battle. Your mages should open
up with AFIR and FAST, then cure and cast SLO2/SLO on Kary to reduces the
number of hits she gets. Everyone else should attack. Oddly, Kary is not
weak to Ice, so don't use Ice spells.

EYE
Location: Ice Cave
HP: 162
Weakness: None
Magic Attacks: XXXX, BRAK, RUB, LIT2, HOLD, MUTE, SLOW, SLEP
Special Attacks: GLANCE, SQUINT, GAZE, and STARE
Reward: 3225 EXP, 3225 GP

Strategy: Your main goal is to kill this guy before he can kill you with
his powerful instant death attacks. Fortunately, this guy has low HP, so
in one or two rounds he'll be toast. You can use spells like FIR3 if you
want.

ZOMBIED (Variable #)
Location: Castle of Ordeal
HP: 268
Weakness: Fire, Harm
Reward: 2331 EXP, 999 GP

Strategy: Fry the ZombieDragons with FIR2, FIR3, HRM2, and/or HRM3. You
should attack with all other characters. The Mage Staff could help if you
use it as an item in battle.

KRAKEN
Location: Ice Cave
HP: 800
Weakness: Lit3
Special: INK
Reward: 4245 EXP, 5000 GP

Strategy: This foe is the hardest of the four Fiends. He hits quite a few
times for massive damage. FAST your Masters, Knights, and Ninjas and have
them attack. Have your White Wizard on hold for casting CUR3 or CUR4.
After FASTing, your Black and Red Wizards should cast LIT3.

BLUED
Location: Mirage Tower
HP: 454
Weakness: Fire
Special: BLIZZARD
Reward: 3274 EXP, 2000 GP

Strategy: This foe is strong against LIT spells. Have your Ninjas,
Masters, and Knights take care of this fight. You can cast FIR3 to end
the battle quick, if you want.

WARMECH (Variable #)
Location: Sky Castle
HP: 1000
Weakness: None
Special: NUCLEAR
Reward: 32000 EXP, 32000 GP

Strategy: WarMech is hard. His NUCLEAR attack takes off anywhere from
100-400 HP, so keep CUR3 or CUR4 handy. FAST Ninjas, Masters, and Knights
with your Black and Red Wizards right off the bat. While they attack,
Black Wizards should cast NUKE and Red Wizards should stand by/heal/or
cast INV2. If you can, use FADE with your White Wizard. He'll go down
eventually.

TIAMAT
Location: Sky Castle
HP: 1000
Weakness: Bane, Brak
Special: THUNDER, POISON, BLIZZARD, BLAZE
Reward: 5496 EXP, 6000 GP

Strategy: Tiamat is very easy. Right off the bat, try BANE or BRAK on
Tiamat. On occasion, this will get rid of him immediately. If that
fails, simply FAST your attackers and use NUKE and FADE.

PHANTOM
Location: Temple of Fiends
HP: 360
Weakness: Fire, Harm
Magic: STOP, ZAP!, XFER, BRAK, RUB, HOLD, MUTE, SLOW
Special: GLARE
Reward: 1 EXP, 1 GP

Strategy: Simply attack him and he should die in one turn.

LICH
Location: Temple of Fiends
HP: 500
Weakness: Harm
Magic: NUKE, STOP, ZAP!, XXXX
Reward: 2000 EXP, 1 GP

Strategy: Have everyone but Black Wizards and White Wizards attack. Black
Wizards should use NUKE (if you have 3 charges of it) and White Wizards
should use HRM3 or HRM4. He may be able to NUKE you before you can defeat
him; hopefully that won't kill your White Wizard.

KARY
Location: Temple of Fiends
HP: 700
Weakness: None
Magic: FIR3, RUB
Reward: 2000 EXP, 1 GP

Strategy: Use AFIR with your Red/White Wizard, then hammer away at Kary
with physical attacks (you can use FAST with your Ninja to increase # of hits).

KRAKEN
Location: Temple of Fiends
HP: 900
Weakness: None
Magic: LIT2
Special: INK
Reward: 2000 EXP, 1 GP

Strategy: Just hammer away at him with physical attacks and LIT3. He can
still deal a lot of damage, but your primary concern is to take him out
(obviously, you should heal if you need to).

TIAMAT
Location: Temple of Fiends
HP: 1100
Weakness: None
Magic: BANE, ICE2, LIT2, FIR2
Special: THUNDER, POISON, BLIZZARD, BLAZE
Reward: 2000 EXP, 1 GP

Strategy: Tiamat is still not too hard. Have your Ninja FAST a Knight or
Master, then hammer away at Tiamat with physical attacks. If you have 2
charges of NUKE left, you CAN use on here, but I would save it for the
final boss.

CHAOS
Location: Temple of Fiends
HP: 2000
Weakness: None
Magic: ICE3, LIT3, SLO2, CUR4, FIR3, ICE2, FAST, NUKE
Special: CRACK, INFERNO, SWIRL, TORNADO, HURRICANE
Reward: None

Strategy: If your levels are not in the high 30s or low 40s, you'll have
problems with Chaos and his CUR4 spell. Since this spell comes up pretty
early, one way to deal with Chaos is to power up until he uses CUR4, then
kill him in the next few rounds. First off, FAST and TMPR your attackers.
Have your White and Red Wizards use INV2. Also, have your White Wizard
cast WALL on him/herself. As soon as Chaos casts CUR4, knock him out with
physical attacks and NUKE. If your levels ARE high and you have a Master,
FAST him and another attacker and Chaos should die before he can use CUR4.

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IV.) CREDITS/DISCLAIMER
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Brett Fisher <[email protected]>: Information on Hurricane.

Ben Siron <[email protected]>: Boss attack patterns and special
attack explanations.

Squaresfot: Making this excellent game.

Disclaimer: This guide is copyright 1999-2001 Amar Kishan, and Final
Fantasy is copyright 1987 Squaresoft. This guide is not official. This guide can
be reproduced in any way without my permission.