Final Fantasy 3/6j Character FAQ Meeple Lard Date: 7/13/06 Version: 3.0 Table of Contents: FAQ History Legal Stuff 1. Overview of the game itself 2. Introduction to the FAQ 3. Summary of the FAQ 4. The characters! -Terra -Locke -Mog -Edgar -Sabin -Shadow -Cyan -Celes -Setzer -Strago -Relm -Umaro -Gogo 5. Character Growth Suggestions 6. Character Team Suggestions 7. Equipment Locations 8. Character Rankings 9. Frequently Asked Questions 10. Credits FAQ History: Version 1.0 -FAQs Creation. Nough said Version 2.0 -Some grammar and content corrections -Added a few points in arbitrary place -Started the Character Rankings section Version 3.0 -Some technical corrections -Few things added in on content -Changed a few words here or there to sound more neutral (like changing one instance of the word "mediocre" to "average" cause I got lots of complaints saying I was badmouthing said character) -Added in "Equipment Location" section, due to popular request 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 Meeplelard@Hotmail.com, or ask me directly on instant messenger, either AIM (DbzFFlord) or MSN messenger (Meeplelard@Hotmail.com) ------------------------------ 1. Overview of the Game Itself ------------------------------ Ok, some of you are wondering "WTF? We all know what this game is; don't bother with an overview of the game itself!" True, this game doesn't need much, but oh well, YOU CAN'T STOP ME! Anyway, I've also done this in my other 5 FAQs, 3 of which were for games not released in the US, so this is really just I being consistent with my other guides. Anyway, this game has 2 known names. It's the 6th installment in the Final Fantasy Series, one of the most famous Series of RPGs, and one of the most successful of all time as well. In the US, it was the 3rd Final Fantasy game of the main series (Final Fantasy Legends was really Saga, Final Fantasy Adventure was really the first Seiken Densetsu Game (aka the Mana Series), and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was just a spin off using the same name) to be released here, and thus, it was called "Final Fantasy 3." Well, most people nowadays call it FF6, since nearly everyone knows that it's really the 6th one, and to avoid confusion from FF3j, the REAL FF3. Anyway, this game was released for the SNES originally (or SFC if you're thinking Japanese), and later, re-released on the PSX (or PS1 if you rather) in "Final Fantasy Anthologies" along with FF5 (The first time the game LEGALLY came to the US, not including all those imports). For those who don't, FF6's background is 1000 years before the events in the game; a great war called the "War of the Magi" occurred, which was a war between Humans and Espers, Magical Semi Divine beings, so to speak. In the end of the war, Civilization was lost and destroyed, the World somewhat destroyed, and Man Kind forced to Start over, along with the Espers creating their own world and living away from the war stricken humans. 1000 years later, Man Kind and the World have made a full recovery, and peace once again exists. However, a certain person named Gestahl discovers the secret behind Magic, a powerful force which has not existed for 1000 years, and decides to use it to take over the world. Thus, another great war is about to ensue. At one point, Narshe, a neutral coal mine city, discovers an Esper frozen in their mines, and that gets the whole world's attention. The Empire, which Gestahl's force is referred to as, sends out an attack force using of 3 warriors in Magitek Armor, a giant mechanical suit of armor infused with magical energy. 2 of these were just normal soldiers, one of them however was a mysterious young woman, whom we later learn is named Terra, who apparently has extraordinary Magical Powers granted to her at birth, and has already wiped out 50 of the best Magitek Knights (warriors of the Empire infused with Magic) in under 3 minutes. Long story short, Vicks/Biggs (Depends version) and Wedge, the 2 soldiers, die, and Terra gets knocked unconscious. She wakes up with Amnesia, not knowing anything what happened in an old man's house, and learns that she was being controlled DIRECTLY through the use of the Slave Crown. Basically, that's the games intro; you should either know the rest of it, or if you don't you'll find out through playing the game. I don't want to get into those boring "A game of magic, mystery, betrayal, friendship, etc." kind of BS, so I'll just get to the point of this FAQ. -------------------------- 2. Introduction to the FAQ -------------------------- Welcome to my Character FAQ for FF6! I know a bunch of you are wondering what the point of this FAQ is, so I'll cut to the chase. Reading a lot of comments about characters in FF6, it got me realizing one thing; FF6 characters all filled with misconceptions somewhere along the line, as far as game play goes. What do I mean? Some people will overrate a character based on one concept alone, whether the reasoning is worth the hype or not is a different story, they'll overlook any flaws the character has for that one special trait, despite how numerous and overbearing the flaws are. On the flipside, some people take one look at a character during a sequence they are forced to use them, and didn't like how they were, so automatically say "this character sucks!" when its really that they just gave up on them early, or they have no clue how to use them. Lastly, I notice some admittedly good characters get love for the wrong reasons. By that, I mean, someone will rave about something special the character has, when its not all that great compared to what other characters have, HOWEVER, the character is still good for reasons not mentioned at all. The point of this FAQ is to expose characters for what they are objectively. This means I'll avoid trying to take one character's side, but I won't ignore obvious flaws of a character (such as, say, low defense, for a random example out of the blue) Likewise, I'll be sure to mention their strengths, and of course, I'll mention how to make characters potentially useful, and some good set ups for them. I hope that after this FAQ, you understand what each FF6 character is truly capable of, and end up not making a fool of yourself raving about a mediocre ability, or calling a rather solid character bad. --------------------- 3. Summary of the FAQ --------------------- Alright, how am I evaluating the characters now? First and foremost, I am assuming REASONABLE levels. By that, I don't mean "I take it you never level up" or whatever, rather, I take it you don't go out of your way to randomly build characters up (EXP wise anyway), and thus, characters don't end up stupidly high levels to the point where a blind monkey with his hands tied behind his back forced to play with his feet can win. What are reasonable levels? Tough call. Yes, you CAN beat the game at level 6~, lots of people have done this, but that just proves that leveling isn't necessary. Most people won't be that low leveled unless actually trying to be. Likewise, level 99 is NOT REASONABLE BY ANY TRAIN OF THOUGHT. Yes, easy enough to get, but consider the time it takes, and how you could have easily beaten the game at about half the level…yeah. Reasonable is more along the lines of, say, no higher than 30 on the Floating Continent, and you shouldn't be far above 60 by the final boss (mind, these aren't levels I usually take, just noting that anything above those levels is likely excessive. Chances are, you'd be lower level if you didn't go out of your way) So…yeah, don't expect me to hype, say, Locke's infamous Genji Glove + Offering + Atma Weapon + Valiant Knife + Quick = 9999 x 16 damage! Set up, as that only happens at levels that are far and away unreasonable by any standards. Oh, I should warn you right now. If you haven't read any of my FAQs for this game yet (The SCC and the NMG FAQs), then please note that I do try to be humor toned at times (keyword: Try >_>), so don't take EVERYTHING I say seriously. Expect some sarcasm and such to be thrown in. One last thing: I don't consider Hacked Super Monsters, EVER. This is cause its not part of the game, and you only fight them for fun, and in the end, each are tweaked so that there are only specific ways to kill them (some absorb all elements while being anti Offering and Anti Ultima, requiring Meteor or Flare to do good damage, others use some combo that forces Runic, what have you) Basically, assume a normal UNHAKCED Game. So yes, I'm factoring in that evade = worthless. If you're wondering where Gau is, check the Frequently Asked Questions part of the FAQ. Anyway, ONTO THE CHARACTERS THEMSELVES! ------------------ 4. The Characters! ------------------ Alright, heres the actual FAQ itself, so…yeah <_< >_> I am doing this in order of appearance like my other FAQs. By appearance I mean either you get to play as them, or you name them (This is why Mog appears third) So yeah, this isn't in alphabetical order, or order of greatness, or order of who looks prettiest, or whatever…ok, I'll shut up, lets just get to the characters. The character section is set up like this: ==== |Name| ==== Stats: Characters base stats listed below, w/out equipment or Esper level ups. 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 Extra MP: The MP version of the above Vigor: Stat that determines physical damage. Generally, 1 point of Vigor = 2 points of Battle Power, 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 Stamina: Stat that determines HP healed from Regen and Tintinabar, 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 Battle Power: Character's base battle power. This + Weapon's Battle Power = True Battle Power. 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 Battle Power (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. Evade: Due to a bug, its only there to look pretty. Only mentioning this for people curious who are curious about Evade Bug Fix patch things Magic Defense: See Defense, more or less, changing what should be obvious. M. Block: Evasion vs. ALL attacks. Note the percentage is ACTUALLY out of 128%, so 100% M. Block =/= Perfect evasion, but 128% is. Level Readjustment Factor: When character joins for the FIRST time, this is how much a level boost they get compared to the average of all characters you have recruited thus far, nixing Temporaries (Banon, Leo, Ghosts, etc. I believe Shadow DOES count in the WoB, though) 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. 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) 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. 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. Ideal End game Set ups for Character X: 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. 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. 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. Skillset: Lists the characters skillset, if they have one. For Terra and Celes, this will be their natural magic. If character has an actual skillset (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 rest is self explanatory, more or less. All Characters are set up like so ======= | TERRA | ======= Stats: Extra HP: 40 Extra MP: 16 Vigor: 31 Speed: 33 Stamina: 28 Magic Power: 39 Battle Power: 12 Defense: 42 Evade: 5% Magic Defense: 33 M. Block: 7% Level Readjustment: +0 Special Ability: Morph/Revert Effects: Morphs Terra into her Esper Form. Not usable until when she rejoins after the Magitek Factory sequence. When morphed, her Physical and Magic Damage both effectively double (unless they ignore defense and are NOT rods), and magic damage (unless defense ignoring) is halved. Doubles the healing from Regen, and damage done by Seizure and Poison. How long Morph lasts depends on the Magic Points you win from battle, between Morphs, if Magic Points < 8, then Morph is impossible. Lastly, the initial Morph (IOWs, the turn she Morphs on) turn does NOT reset the ATB Gauge. Revert simply undoes Morph Status, and that turn follows the same rules as Morph (not resetting the ATB gauge and all) Character Analysis: Terra is arguably the best character in FF6, though she might not seem like it at first glance. When she first joins, she is nothing special, proving most useful at that point as the teams in battle healer with Cure. Annoying thing about her early on is how she can't do much damage without using MP, which at that point, actually matters (no Osmose, and Tinctures are expensive) That, and the existence of Edgar and Sabin doing considerably more than her for free adds insult to injury. However, when she rejoins, some of her better points start to show, such as now she can apply her high Magic Power with Esper usage, along with some nice equipment options available. As the game goes on, these advantages become more pronounced, making her even a bigger force. Her Special ability, Morph, makes her a nasty boss slayer. In fact, with enough "twinkage", at level 20, Terra can do 9999 to an enemy, by breaking a rod and hitting the element, if she's Morphed…and that's without Esper Boosts. Useful? Not really, but just fun to point out. Anyway, judging by her stats, you'd probably write her off instantly as a mage, and treat her as nothing but that. Lots of people think this too, and it's not surprising. She has good magic defense, 2nd best Magic Power, starts with the Magic skill set, while, like typical RPG mages, has low physical stats. However, this is not entirely true. Yes, Terra makes a fine mage, but she's not a pure one by any means. She makes a good fighter in addition to making an excellent Mage. This is because of her good equipment draw. Stat wise, she's a Mage, no questions asked, equipment wise however, she's a lot more like an FF Knight. Being able to use Heavy Armor, Swords, all shields in the game, etc. Her low physical stats are made up for quite well. Swords in general have good battle power, so her physical damage isn't half bad, and since most of your defense comes from your equipment, all the low base defense means is where Terra falls compared to other armor users. Due to this, Terra ends up being a nicely balanced character, leaning more towards the magic side obviously, but a competent fighter. This versatility lets her adapt to different situations (as shown by her SCC, if you've ever tried it), since she can switch equipment or fighting style to take on most challenges in the game. This means she'll fit nicely into pretty much any team. Its also nice in that it means you can raise her to be a fighter (Vigor boosts) or Mage (Magic Power boosts) and not end up disappointed either way. A nice bonus is at the end of the WoB, one of her strongest weapons, the Morning Star, ignores back row, so she can be placed in the back row with no penalties, to up her defenses. How you decide to raise Terra is up to you, she ends up being fine either way. I personally raise her as a mage, as generally, Magic > Physicals in FF6, but that's just me. Getting a bit away of what Terra already has, what doesn't she have? Well, Morph isn't exactly useful if you keep using it, making it nigh useless for random encounters. Again, there is that whole annoying early game mediocrity (albeit, she's still usable there, just nothing special) which can be annoying. Beyond that? The girl doesn't have many flaws, no. One thing that is worth noting, though, is that besides her special ability, she's almost identical to Celes in everyway. What are some of Terra's "kick ass equips" you might be wondering? Well, for starters, she can use Illumina. That alone says a lot. If you don't like characters who rely on one of a kind equips that can be given to multiple characters, the Enhancer makes a fine supplement if you are going the Mage Route for her (hard to argue with +7 to Magic Power and +20% M. Block for a Mage), or Atma Weapon if you are going the Fighter Route, possibly swapping Man Eater on against certain foes. Early on, she gets some nice armor options in things such as the Magus Hat and White Dress (Both +5 to Magic Power), as well as elemental weapons (good damage if hitting weakness (especially when the random casting kicks in), can be supported by Genji Glove if desired, and gives +2 to Magic Power) One of the nicest aspects about Terra's equips is how early she gets some of them. The Mystery Veil comes to mind. The Mystery Veil has a magic defense values that beats EVERY World of Ruin store-bought helmet except the Oath Veil, and it has a defense value that is only one point behind the fabled Circlet, along with giving a nice +3 to magic Power, +1 to Speed, and best of all, +10% to M. Block…and she gets this as early as Thamasa too. Pretty nifty, if you ask me. Among other things, she can use not only the Genji Armor like half the cast, but the Force Armor and Minerva, the two arguably best Armors in the game (up there with Snow Muffler). Even better is its possible to have the Minerva when Terra rejoins in the WoR, w/out having to ever set foot in Kefka's Tower. One of the nicest features about her equipment is, well, she has everything she needs, which means she'll never need to waste a relic slot with the Merit Award for that one piece of equipment that complements her nicely, as she likely already has is. That, or the things she would want (Snow Muffler…) she can't use with Merit Award anyway. Yeah, its easy to see where Terra's strength lies; within her excellent balance. Yes, her stats beg to differ, but she's clearly what some would call a "Fighter/Mage", leaning more to the mage side. Having Magic for randoms (with Osmose around in case she runs out of MP), and a great equipment draw, she's ready for most situations. This is portrayed further in how she tends to excel well even under most challenges, she's easily one of the best characters. Strategies for Terra throughout the game: -When you first get her, put her in the back row. Her defense early game isn't that impressive, and that low HP actually matters a bit early on (late game, the difference is negligible) Since she's likely being a healer, it'd be wise to make her fight defensively. Besides, with Edgar around, who needs more offense? -Giving her the Genji Glove or Atlas Armlet (Hyper Wrist aint cutting it, due to how Vigor works) early on can help her physical damage somewhat, conserving her MP. Wouldn't be a bad idea, when its available, to give her the Rune Edge, but that wastes MP -For the Narshe Battle sequence, Terra should defiantly equip the Silk Robe. The extra Magic Power, and Magic Defense is more useful than the negligible defense edge the Iron Armor gives, and it doesn't lower your speed to boot. Should you not have enough Green berets, Magus Hat is an obvious choice, should you have enough…decide whether you want more defenses or higher damage, either works. Note that due to the Magus Hat's existence, Terra should be one of the last characters to consider giving your Green Berets too (no one else has decent supplements, besides Celes anyway (other Magus hat users)) -When Terra rejoins, start working on getting her spells ASAP. Those she should aim for are Cure 2 (fastest via Seraphim), Level 2's (Fastest NET Gain is via Maduin, though, if you want just one Level 2 ASAP, Ifrit or Shiva work), and Osmose (quickest via Zoneseek) you can give her other spells, but these should be priorities. As a side note, don't bother teaching her Life; she'll learn that naturally. -If going on random Veldt hikes for Gau, Terra's probably a good character take so she can horde Magic Points for her Morph Gauge w/out gaining EXP. -Decide when Terra rejoins if you want her to be a mage or a fighter, and then start raising her like that from then. This is especially true for a Fighter, as the Vigor boosts need to be substantial to make an impact, thus she'll need plenty of levels under Bismark. -Terra should have the White Dress on throughout most of the WoB. The +5 to magic Power is considerably better than any defensive options. The Exception to this is Gaia Gear, which is arguably better for the time you get it. -For WoB weapons…if you have at least one of each elemental (Blizzard, Thunder Blade, and Flame Sabre), and the Morning Star, she should be set. The elemental weapons should be used to hit Weakness or for the minor magic power boost. The Morning Star is good if you don't want to waste relic slots with Dragoon Boots, and thus, it'll let her do physical damage in the Back Row with no penalty, making it passable (better if you give her a Hero Ring) -Terra should pretty much always have the Mystery Veil on. Its more or less her best Helmet from when you get it on. There are cases where you might prefer other things (Like Red Cap for the Vigor Boost, or Genji Helmet for the raw defenses), but typically hold onto that. Thankfully, if you accidentally sell it, its one of the few WoB equips that are still storebought (in the same place to boot) in the WoR. -Minerva vs. Force Armor. Both are arguably the best armors in the game, and Terra can use both. If you like to use Locke, Edgar, Cyan or Setzer (Force Armor users who can't use the Minerva), probably best with the Minerva, as it leaves Force Armors open for those characters (assuming you don't have enough), though, it’s a no brainer which to choose if you want 128% M. Block set ups (Force Armor)…unless you use Illumina, in which case, you'd defiantly prefer the elemental protection (128% M. Block guards most stuff, but things like Merton can still trash you) -For the most part, keep Terra with an Enhancer in the WoR, UNLESS you are more or less using her strictly as a fighter. The 20% M. Block and +7 Magic Power is considerably better than any attack boost you might get. Granted, if one of those options you have at the moment is, say, Illumina, which is superior to Enhancer in everyway…I'll let you figure out what the wise idea is… Terra's Ultimate and other Noteworthy equipment Weapons (listed in no particular order): Illumina Atma Weapon (if you go the physical route only) Enhancer Ragnarok (useful if you…uhh…steal it from Girl for the final battle? maybe?) Helmets: Genji Helmet Mystery Veil Oath Veil Red Cap Circlet Armor: Minerva Genji Armor Force Armor Ideal End game Set Ups for Terra: Set Up #1: Illumina Aegis Shield Mystery Veil Minerva White Cape White Cape Comments: Potent "Fighter Terra" Set Up. Illumina's Auto Criticals means you won't be needing that Offering, and the Minerva lets you give that elusive Paladin Shield to someone else as she's decked out with enough elemental defenses as is. The 128% M. Block makes her nigh invincible too. The nice thing about this set up is not only is she a great fighter, but due to Illumina, Mystery Veil and Minerva's stat boosts, it raises her Magic Power tremendously, letting her double as an effective mage as well. Aegis Shield used here instead of Force Shield since it opens up set ups for other characters easier. If you want, swap Force Shield for Aegis Shield, and you can trade in one of those White Capes for something like an Atlas Armlet to increase your damage (Don't use Offering, as Auto Criticals from Illumina make its damage the same, and the random Pearl Castings make its average Damage considerably better WITHOUT it), or better yet, a Hero Ring, so she can raise her Magic Power too. Nice addition is her physical damage doesn't take any penalties in the back row. Problems with this set up? Giving Illumina to Terra means no one else can use it :/ Set Up #2: Enhancer Force Shield Mystery Veil Force Armor White Cape White Cape If you never plan on using Terra's physical attack, I suggest this set up over the above. While inferior, yes, its less costly for the overall team (since you're not using Illumina, is the main reason). This set up makes her quite a magic tank, and she still resists lots of elements, unfortunately, aren't immune to any either. Still has that nice 128% M. Block too, and her magic damage is still quite nice. Probably the ideal set up for her if you plan on using Celes, Locke or Edgar (or maybe a Merit Award user), since it doesn't hurt them all that much (still enough Force Armors to go around, and she's not stealing that Illumina) Set Up #3: Illumina Aegis Shield Mystery Veil Force Armor Gem Box Yes, I'm missing a relic slot, but that's cause you could fill anything in that slot, it shouldn't matter. Yet another 128% M. Block Set Up for Terra, this one is very restrictive though, as it uses not only Illumina, BUT ALSO the Gem Box. This set up is basically the all out Magic Blitz Set Up for Terra, as she's dodging everything with 128% M. Block, while nuking everything with X-magic. Funny fact is despite this being her "Magic Nukage Set Up", she ends up being an Excellent Fighter still, blame the overall brokenness of Illumina. Note that for ANY of these set ups, if you ditch just 10% M. Block somewhere, Terra will have 127% M. Block…just missing our perfect 128%. If you feel that 1% away from perfect is good enough for you (and all likely hood, unless playing an LLG, it is), then be my guest. I personally would recommend removing 10% either in the Relics (so you can keep her options open), OR in the Shield (replace Force with Aegis (or Paladin, but I prefer to avoid that unless its being used for non M. Block reasons, since there is only one), or Aegis with Tortoise Shield), since the Good M. Block Shields (the 40% and 50% Ones) are in limited quantity, so it'd help economize, per se. Your call. These set ups, as a reminder, are just guides, you can twist them however you want. Note that this applies to ANY character. Should you not care about missing a few points, best to take it off either from the Shield or the Relic. Miscellaneous stuff regarding Terra: -Terra is one of the easiest characters to get in the WoR. Personally, I suggest getting her as one of your first characters, as only Gau, really, is easier to get. Its not like Phunbaba is a hard fight, or requires an painstakingly long dungeon to reach him -Terra learns Drain naturally, and at a low level to boot. Wouldn't bring this up if Drain wasn't taught by only ONE Esper (Ifrit), and it wasn't at a x1 Rate. -Rods, despite ignoring defense, do NOT ignore Morph. Think about what this would do to the likes of Flame Eater or Ultros who both have costly elemental weaknesses -Terra is one of four characters who can get 999 MP at level 99 only using 3 levels of Crusader, assuming you use Crusader at the right time, keep that in mind for those who must have characters with straight 9s at level 99 for whatever reason -Terra can be Morphed AND Imped at the same time. Basically, have Terra Morph, then Imp her. Handy if you want the Ultimate Dragoon for Boss Fights, for whatever reason (if you want to take it a step further, give her Hero Ring/Atlas Armlet instead of Dragoon Boots (Dragon Horn goes w/out saying), and have someone summon Palidor, then watch the damage fly!) -Unlimited Morph! Yeah, a somewhat known "bug" now a days, but thought I'd bring it up. Basically, have Terra use Morph. When her Morph Gauge is near empty, quickly cast Stop or Sleep on her (Freeze also works, but that's kind of hard to apply) When the gauge runs out, if she's still under one of those status', she will remain morphed when the status wears off (if you are impatient, when the gauge wears off, Cast Dispel or Remedy, or smack her, or whatever undoes the status), but her ATB Gauge will be normal! She will thus remain Morphed the entire fight unless she dies. Useful? Not really, as FF6 boss fights are fast anyway, but fun to mess around with, maybe. -Morph + Quick Loop. Another novelty strategy. Basically, this combines the "Terra doesn't lose a turn when Morphing" with the cheese that is the Quick Spell. Have Terra open by casting Quick. Use her first turn normally. 2nd turn, have her Morph. The game will register this as a turn used under Quick, so the Quick status is gone, HOWEVER, the game will also register this as the Morph Turn, so Terra gets that instantaneous turn right after, thus she gets ANOTHER Turn, one that since its not under Quick, lets her cast Quick again! Have her cast Quick, do the same, only swapping Morph with Revert, and the same thing will occur. You can repeat this as many times as you want, more or less, until Terra runs out of Morph "juice" Who'd have thunk that Squaresoft implemented a lesser version Blue's evil Overdrive + Stasis Rune combo from SaGa Frontier long before that game came out <_< -Terra is one of the only characters who can max out her Magic Defense! To do so, she needs the Force Shield, 2 White Capes, Imp Armor and Titanium. All those things on, she'll hit maximum Magic Defense! Granted, the flaw of this set up is that she'll die to a sneeze, but still fun to note nonetheless (and potentially useful in the fanatics tower…maybe?) Only two other characters (Mog and Gau) can pull this off. Skillset: While Terra has no unique set of commands, she does gain magic naturally, via Levels. The spells she gains look as follows: Lv 1: Cure Lv 3: Fire Lv 6: Antdot Lv 12: Drain Lv 18: Life Lv 22: Fire 2 Lv 26: Warp Lv 33: Cure 2 Lv 37: Dispel Lv 43: Fire 3 Lv 49: Life 2 Lv 57: Pearl Lv 68: Break Lv 75: Quartr Lv 86: Merton Lv 99: Ultima Ending thought: Its easy to see that Terra has many options by the end of the game. Terra generally starts off 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 lackluster 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 (in Terra's case, this would be at the Floating Continent, seeing as she's forced into your team for the Sealed Cave. Imperial Banquet fails to count for anything <_<), she's always a prime option to consider. ======= | LOCKE | ======= Stats: Extra HP: 48 Extra MP: 7 Vigor: 37 Speed: 40 Stamina: 31 Magic Power: 28 Battle Power: 14 Defense: 46 Evade: 15% Magic Defense: 23 M. Block: 2% Level Readjustment: +2 Special Ability: Steal/Capture 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 Sneak Ring on. With Thief Glove on, Steal becomes Capture, which works exactly like the "Fight" command as if it had an "Add: Steal" attribute to it. Capture ignores replacement effects (like Wing Edge's "X-death" ability), but not addition affects (Blizzard's random Ice spells.) Character Analysis: You can probably tell right off the bat, based on Locke's stats, that he's a fighter. And truth be told, you are correct. Sporting Magic Power tied for third worst with Sabin, and a nice selection of Weapons, Locke's main suit is melee combat. Well, fine, its not always melee, as sometimes he's hiding in the back row throwing boomerangs at people, which is more long range than melee, but that's besides the point. However, there is no doubt that Locke does get overrated by a lot of his fans. One of the most common things they say about him is something along the lines of "Offering + Genji Glove + Valiant Knife + Atma Weapon = 9999 x 8!" This is true, yes…at level 99 with nearly maxed out Vigor, and in front row, assuming max HP so the Atma Weapon doesn't do low damage. Clearly, that's not saying much, as all this means is Locke has best damage potential, but only at the point where things don't matter anymore, since anyone can dish out massive damage without breaking a sweat. Don't get me wrong, Locke isn't a bad character, but he's far from the best like some people might try and claim. One thing often raved about by Locke is his "amazing speed!" Yes, that speed is the best of any character in the game, and yes, he has the most speed boosting equips to complement this…but that's where it ends. On paper, that sounds great, but in practice, due to how FF6's ATB works, all this means is Locke might lap your OWN characters occasionally (not the enemies, which matter), as well as getting the first turn faster (matters only for running, all things considered) Some people might go as far as to say "Locke gets 2 turns when everyone else gets one, so he has double his damage!" which is a flat out lie, unless your purposely giving Locke some "Free Time" by using Long Animations attacks with the other characters, and Locke is using short animation. Yeah, while having game best speed sounds great on paper, in a game like FF6, it means very little. Anybody whose actually played FF6, and wasn't obsessed with Locke will notice high speed means (conversely, Low Speed isn't noticeable too, making people like Cyan happy) When Locke first joins, lets be blunt, he sucks. He has nothing going for him besides decent weapons (Guardian and Air Lancet, for example), but that's about it. His damage isn't too good, being far behind Edgar's Tools, and he doesn't have any other special features, like how Terra can be used for healing. Locke does have stealing, to be fair, which is good for money making, or getting some early items (like Bandana's from Brawlers) After a certain point, for Locke to show ANY use in battle, he will basically require the Genji Glove (which to be fair, fits him the best, as he has the strongest weapons, generally, and other characters can do damage through other means), and possibly the Atlas Armlet, for his damage to keep up with the others. At first this sounds like not such a bad idea…keep in mind it does force him, until the Narshe Battle sequence, to go in the Front Row to take full advantage of his damage, and the loss of the shield does kind of make things difficult for defense. After that fight, he gets some Long Range weapons, which help, yes, but not long after that is the Magitek Factory where enemies have defense values up the wazoo, forcing Locke to be a mage if you want him to be worth anything (and since he's forced into your team, that's likely not a bad idea) Locke's equipment is fairly averages at first, and decent in the WoR. Yes, he gets Long Range weapons, but…he gets them at the point of the game when basic physicals are at their worst. His Armor options aren't bad, but they aren't special either. Clothing class in the WoB does have nice things like Ninja Gear, Power Sash, and Gaia Gear, but none of them are all that particularly special (and in the case of Gaia Gear, 10 of the 12 characters can use it anyway, so its more so a disadvantage to those who can't use it then an advantage to those who can) Helmet options like most non Females is pretty average-ish, only thing that stands out is the Head Band, which is more an on paper thing than anything else. He also gets Hawkeyes nearing the end of the WoB, good as most enemies fly on the Floating Continent…at least, you'd expect them to be good. Truth be told, he still needs Genji Glove for the average damage to catch up, and even then, he's still lower end. In fact, sadly, Relm's physical actually keeps up with Locke's on the FC (just as many enemies weak to Fire, Ice and Lightning as there are floating enemies), on average, due to her random level 2 castings (this is to say nothing of her just outright casting a level 2) WoR…Locke gets some nice equipment options. His main selling point, the Valiant Knife, he even brings with him! This weapon ignores defense and gains damage as he loses HP. This makes a nice choice for the offering as the bonus damage (from the HP loss) ignores the Offering's Damage penalty, making his damage quite solid. He also is one of the few Force Armor users, so he can tweak his M. Block to decent levels. Not to mention he can use Illumina too. However, there's only one Illumina, and four users, and generally, the other three tend to be more effective overall, for other reasons. All in all, Locke is an alright character come end game, but he's nothing particularly special ever. His WoB lagging is something that's hard to ignore, since he truly lacks anything that makes him worthwhile there. As far as his special goes. Steal sounds great, yes. Getting equipment early can't be a bad thing, right? This would be true if for the most part, there were actual things worth stealing. There are a few nice things, but for the most part, the stuff you steal you will either be getting soon enough anyway, is a minor factor, or just flat out isn't worth bothering over. Steal does have the nice commodity of being a means of fattening your wallet though, especially in the WoB when the Veldt is not available. So what of Capture? To be blunt, that's a DOWNGRADE to Steal. Yes, Damage + Steal sounds good at first…but consider that when you are stealing something, you want the enemies to live as long as possible, and not worry about killing them. Capture kind of defeats that purpose. Capture does have a use, to be fair. In the WoB, paired with the Atma Weapon, Locke effectively gains a 255 Powered weapon with no flaws that ignores row, added aspect of stealing. Makes for some passable damage for parts of the WoB, I guess. Hardly a saving grace though. As far as a mage goes…you could use Locke as one, if you please, as he could make up for his low Magic Power by equipping Genji Armor (+3 to magic Power), Illumina (+7), and Circlet (+4), but…then again, lots of characters can do similar things, and end up better anyway. Chances are, if you are using Locke, you are using him for his physical prowess, not for magic, even though for a brief moment (the Magitek Factory, is one example), Magic might be his best means of offense. Strategies for Locke throughout the game: -When Locke first joins, try to steal as much as possible. Getting Tonics early on for free can save a bit of money, as well as an occasional antidote. -Speaking about first joining, when you fight Marshall, don't kill him til you get that Mithril Knife. You might die a few times, but remember, dying there =/= game over, just forces you to restart. Just keep trying til you succeed, THEN kill him. Mithril Knife is better than what Locke already has, and besides, its extra money, right? -When Edgar joins, give Locke his Mithril Blade. Edgar has no use for such a weapon, and Locke likes the extra attack. Besides, saves money from having to buy one for him in South Figaro anyway, and its his strongest weapon until Mt. Koltz anyway. -Grab the Hyper Wrist in South Figaro, and the Atlas Armlet on Mt. Koltz, and give both to Locke. This makes his damage somewhat passable, though, note that this set up has the flaw of harming Edgar's damage from Auto Crossbow too, should you think that needs a boost. -Whether you get the Genji Glove or Gauntlet is up to (though, take my word for it, you'd be foolish to choose the Gauntlet), either way, it should go to Locke. One of those with an Atlas Armlet makes his damage good enough to kill off a Trooper in the Narshe Battle Sequence in one hit! -Steal from TunnelArmr to get a 2nd Air Lancet early on, at least 7/8ths of the time. This helps make Locke's damage a bit better (Air Lancet isn't too much stronger than Guardian, but still helps) for early parts, if you are using Genji Glove. Mind, if you got Gauntlet, I would forget about the 2nd Air Lancent unless you plan on selling it for a bit of extra cash. -Locke should always be using Full Moon, or when its available, Boomerang and stay in the back row, throughout the mid sections of the WoB. The Little damage boost from the Elemental weapons won't be worth back row compatibility, unless of course you are hitting a weakness, which makes using those weapons a no-brainer of course (for example, Thunder Blade against enemies in the Magitek Factory) That is of course until… -Locke has access to Hawk Eyes. Without a doubt, this weapon is Locke's best weapon in the WoB. Highest attack power (besides Atma Weapon, which has issues), random ability to do 1.5x damage to enemies 50% of the time, 3x if enemy is flying, and is back row compatible to boot. If you are using Locke in the WoB, it should be obvious to equip two of these on Locke, back them up with an Atlas Armlet, and leave him in the Back Row. It’s the only way his damage is going to be worth anything, really. -Alternatively, if you want damage that's more consistent (though, worse on average), equip Thief Glove, and give Locke the Atma Weapon, and use Capture. Capture will ignore the Atma Weapon's extra level and HP factors into the damage, (downside is it no longer is defense ignoring albeit) for turning it effectively into a 255 Powered Back Row compatible weapon. The stealing aspect is icing. If you wish, throw a Genji Glove on with a Hawk Eye for more damage, or use Atlas Armlet if you prefer to keep that Shield on. -Despite how it might look on paper, the Power Sash is probably not worth equipping for the FC. Stay with the Gaia Gear. Sure, that loss of 5 Vigor seems bad, but the extra Magic Defense (defense increase Is negligible), and Earth absorption at that point of the game probably better investments. -When Locke rejoins in the WoR, he should always have either Valiant Knife, or Wing Edge on (or Illumina, if you feel like giving it to him) Those two weapons are easily his best weapons in the WoR. Valiant Knife is his best for raw damage, Wing Edge is just solid for being Back Row compatible, boosting stats, and the random instant death. -Locke can use the Force Armor. I highly suggest you take advantage of this. Its arguably the best armor in the game, and only 6 characters can use it. Remember, there are several suits around, and 2 of the characters who use Force Armor have another viable option open, so one being around for Locke shouldn't be that big an issue. -If you are using Locke in the WoR, then I have one word to say: Offering. Were it not for this one relic, Locke would be very hard pressed to find use outside being another character who wields Illumina (Something, again, three other characters who are likely to see more use can do anyway), which even that wouldn't be enough to save him. This weapon helps augment the one aspect Locke had going for him; his good draw of weapons. This will double Locke's damage with the Fight command, and if using Valiant Knife, QUADRUPLE the damage bonus from HP Loss. It should be pointed out, though, that if Locke is using the Offering, other characters who benefit greatly from it (like Setzer, for example) can't use it. Keep this in mind when making teams (especially in places like Kefka's tower) Locke's Ultimate and other Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Valiant Knife Illumina Wing Edge Atma Weapon Helmet: Red Cap Genji Helm Bard's Hat Circlet Armor: Force Armor Genji Armor Ideal Set ups for Locke: Set Up #1: Valiant Knife Genji Shield Red Cap Genji Armor Offering Atlas Armlet An ideal physical offense set up for Locke. Genji Shield and Genji Armor help make up for the defense loss that Locke will be taking from using the front row in this set up. Offering and Atlas Armlet work nicely together, as its basically a 2.5x damage increase overall. Red Cap works oddly nice with the Valiant Knife, as it means since your Max HP is higher, you have more HP to lose, thus that much more to be added to your damage, to say nothing of how the Red Cap and Genji Armor give a net bonus of +9 Vigor. Set Up #2: Illumina Aegis Shield Bard's Hat Force Armor Any two Relics of your choice (I advise AGAINST using the Offering) This is a standard 128% M. Block Set Up for Locke. Should you wish to give him one, you MUST give him Illumina, unfortunately. I suggest this one as it leaves those nice Force Shields open for those who don't have Illumina around for their M. Block set ups, and doesn't really hinder Locke in anyway. Illumina smackings should suffice for damage, if you are afraid Locke's magic damage won't be particularly special, even with the +7 to Magic Power. Set Up #3: Wing Edge Genji Shield Red Cap Mirage Vest Sneak Ring Running Shoes I know you are probably wondering what the heck is up with this set up? Well, this one is the best possible Set Up Locke can use for speed (Note you can swap Wing Edge with Illumina, if you desire), should you want to make Locke an unholy speedster. This set up has uses of probably being ideal for saving time in stealing, as it means Locke gets his turns faster, and with the Sneak Ring around, he's still getting the nice double steal odds bonus. Generally, not a very good set up, but I know there are SOME people who love speed more than anything else (Why? Who knows, maybe they think this something like FF10, where speed mattered >.>), so this is here for all those speedster fans. Miscellaneous stuff regarding Locke: -Offering + Thief Glove…the never ending myth. Sadly, while this combo seems excellent on paper…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 Sneak Rings 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, 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 Illumina, unless you like wasting time getting Terra to level 99 (at which point, its useless) Both Ragnarok AND the Paladin Shield require Locke to obtain. This is probably the best reason to get him, as both are quite nasty equips (Illumina more so since you can get it far easier) -Sneak Rings 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 Sneak Ring unless you like another +5 to speed or something. -Locke can hit 9999 x 8! However, this requires him to be at level 99, with stupidly high Vigor, more or less, using Atma Weapon and Valiant Knife. Yes, this is the best damage potential in the game, no, it serves no purpose whatsoever, beyond being something random to throw out. Skillset: Locke doesn't have any real skillset, per se. His Special ability, Steal, is a single command that's already explained earlier. Capture simply replaces Steal, should the Thief Glove be equipped. Final Thoughts: Locke in the end isn't a particularly stellar character, but he can be tweaked to being decent. He's never really that good with Magic, given his low Magic Score, and lack of equips outside of Illumina to compensate for this, and it really does take time for his unique weapons to actually show anything (first one that stands out are the Hawk Eyes) He picks up in the WoR, thankfully, coming with the Valiant Knife, and the existence of the Offering now around, as well as being able to use Illumina and Force Armor, though, even Offering + Valiant Knife isn't all its cracked up to be, and other characters can use that fine sword and nice flashy Armor. If you like Locke, continue to use him, though, just know there are usually better options around. ===== | MOG | ===== Stats: Extra HP: 39 Extra MP: 16 Vigor: 29 Speed: 36 Stamina: 26 Magic Power: 35 Battle Power: 16 Defense: 52 Evade: 10% Magic Defense: 36 M. Block: 12% Level Readjustment: +5 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: I'll be blunt with Mog; Square clearly wanted a character with no rhyme or reason, and had arbitrary uses based on the time, and would go against whatever his stats would claim. Yes, his stats for the most part are Mage Like, having above average Magic, game best Magic Defense, and bad physical stats…except defense where he ranks 2nd only to Sabin (nixing Umaro since he's special) However, look at his equipment when her first joins, as far as what is available to him: Gold Class equips, Spears, low level mage equips Terra and Celes can use (Silk Robe and Magus Hat)…the guy makes very little sense, to be blunt. Mog is clearly a character who you basically have to DISCOVER what his use is. For this reason alone, people will often discount him for one reason or another, thinking he's bad. However, with some knowledge, Mog can be made into quite a force. When Mog first joins, his best defining feature is clearly his starting 5 levels above everyone else. This is a blessing and a curse. This means Mog starts off with a huge HP advantage, and his damage will likely be inflated due to it, however, it also means less Esper time for him (and anybody who joins after him, since now his +5 to levels is factored into the average), for those who are sticklers about leveling up with Espers. Mog when he first joins has one general use: Dances. Lets be frank. Dances kick ass in the WoB. High MT damage, terrains tend to be in his favor (Wind Song for the IAF sequence, an area where full Free MT Healing would be nice, as well as a Wind Attack that hits BOTH sides, in an area where enemies are weak to Wind…and both moves are common to boot), passable ST damage…dances come in with a bang, make no mistake. Later on, in the WoR, they die off, yes, but WoB, they are excellent, their only flaw being unreliable. Mog's equipment is pretty good then too. Spears aren't bad on power, AND they can be paired with Dragoon Boots for double damage (other weapons only get 1.5x damage), AND it makes them ignore row…IOWs, Mog suddenly becomes a decent fighter, as well as a good Pseudo Mage. Magic stat isn't too shabby either, and can be boosted to a degree, if you wish, so he makes a fine back up mage. Oddly enough, he'll have game best defense here, despite lacking a certain armor to be named later. This is what happens when you shove the Gold Shield (best shield at the time) on someone with 2nd best defense score. Yes, Mog can have better defense than the likes of Edgar, scary, I know, even if the amount is negligible. More over, he can use Gaia Gear at the same time, letting him reap the benefits of that fine armor. Though, for the most part, if you are using Mog, you are using him for his dances…he just brings a bunch of other random fun stuff with him, in the WoB anyway. While in the WoB, he's quite the offensive Power House, murdering entire battle fields with ease, and doing good damage on bosses…he's pretty much the exact opposite in the WoR. His damage takes a drop, though it can be tweaked to be good with Dragon Horn + Dragoon Boots, paired with a decent spear. On the flipside, Mog as a mage…is fairly average-ish. He still has good base magic power, but less time for Esper boosts can hurt. Basically, Mog goes from a good Mage character who is a fine choice cause of his raw offense to a Physical Fighter who is a fine choice because of his raw defense score. This is likely the most drastic change for ANY character in FF6, and the funny thing is, he does BOTH jobs fairly well. There is an annoying feature to Mog though. In the WoR, should you not bother taking the time to pick up the Snow Muffler (the armor that makes his defense obscene), Mog's defense will suck. Mog's next best armor is…the Diamond Vest…yes, that wimpy universal store bought PoS in Nikeah. Without that, Mog drops from a rather solid character to…well, a fairly bad one. So if you are using Mog late game, be sure to get the Snow Muffler first, then use him to your hearts delight. Either that, or you're using him for another feature: the Moogle Charm. This is easily what people associate Mog with the most, and lots of people will claim its his only reason to exist. Moogle Charm, for those who don't know, lets you TOTALLY avoid random encounters, and is something only Mog can equip; nifty for doing things like, say, raiding the Fanatics Tower early on. So in the end, if you plan on using Mog, make sure you know how to use him. Lots of people will think Mog is all dances, and discount his use entirely, when in fact, its not so much Mog sucks cause Dances suck now (they really are unimpressive in the WoR), more so his use has taken a complete 180, going from an offensive powerhouse to one who relies on tanking, per se. 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 Mithril Shield, and Mithril Pike. Note that Mog comes back with this anyway when he rejoins later. -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 Rondo, 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 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. -Likewise, forget that Mog can use the Gradeus. Yes, stronger than the Pearl Lance, but when used with Jump, Pearl Lance does more since it’s a spear (higher damage boost compared to daggers), AND gets those random Pearl Castings in. The +3 to Magic Power can't hurt either -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 Jazz are available) ESPECIALLY Water Rondo, as the area coming up (the Sealed Cave)…to be blunt, its not very fond of that dance, lets put it that way :P (though, Mog does have 50% chance of failure, being not the home dance) -For the Sealed Cave, Mog's best option is likely Water Rondo. Unreliable, yes, but when he hits with El Nino, he hits HARD. Though, Dusk 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 Song hands down. Provides not only consistant Healing, but Wind Slash can kill those fights in one casting (Earrings/Hero Rings can help insure this further) Plasma, while rare and no 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 Muffler before you are serious about using Mog in the WoR. -Mog is one of the few characters, late game, you should consider raising his defense as high as possible, instead of M. Block. This is cause Mog's Defense is high enough that it can potentially max, where he takes 1 damage from physicals in the Front Row (0 in the Back Row) Meanwhile, Mog's M. Block, despite being 2nd best, doesn't have much in equips to raise it. Mog's Ultimate and Noteworthy equips: Weapons: Pearl Lance Aura Lance Helmets: Genji Helm Bard's Hat Circlet Red Cap Armor: Snow Muffler Ideal End game Set ups for Mog: Set Up #1: Pearl Lance Paladin Shield Red Cap Snow Muffler Dragon Horn Dragoon Boots This Set up should be quite obvious. It makes Mog really hard to kill, all things considered. Yeah, I know, requires using the Paladin Shield on him, but I listed it here since it fits him so nicely. Snow Muffler gives him Maxed out Defense potentials, so he's got physical immunity, Paladin Shield covers most of the Magic damage with giving +40% M. Block, high magic defense, and makes Mog immune to every element in the game. Red Cap fits nicely with this "Tank" set up, boosting ANOTHER defensive Stat (HP), along with giving him a boost to Vigor to complement the Dragoon Set up here. More or less, Mog won't be able to be hit since he'll often be airborne with this set up. When he is not airborne, enemies will have a hell of a time hurting him. Note: IN general, I'll avoid Paladin Shield set ups, UNLESS they have some actual strategic use, like this one here (covers Mog's lesser defenses, making him even better at what he does best: hits) 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 -Moogle 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. -Like Terra (and Gau), Mog can also get maxed out Magic Defense. Similarly, this has no actual use beyond novelty, given how much it murders your defense (and since the set up requires White Capes, being an Imp is out of the question) Requires the same equipment as Terra to pull this off. Skillset: 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 (same goes for any other character from here on in) Wind Song 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 Cockatrie: 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. Cockatrie 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 Suite Home Terrain: Forests Abilities: Rage: Non Elemental damage to all Harvester: Recovers party from most negative status ailments Elf Fire: Fire Damage to one Wombat: Non elemental damage to one Comments: Probably the worst dance in the game. Harvest 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 Aria: Home Terrain: Deserts Abilities: Sand Storm: Wind Elemental damage to all Antlion: Instant Death to one Wind Slash: Wind Elemental damage to all Kitty: 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 Sonata: Home Terrain: Towns and Indoors Abilities: Elf Fire: Fire damage to one Specter: 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, among other things) Earth Blues: Home Terrain: Mountains, and the Floating Continent Abilities: Land Slide: Non Elemental damage to one Sonic Boom: Reduces target's HP by 62.5% Sun Bath: Heals the party's HP Whump: Non elemental damage to one Comments: Nice dance. Great when you consider the Floating Continent is its home terrain as well. Land 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. Whump is kind of just there, though. Water Rondo: Home Terrain: Lete River, and Serpent Trench Abilities: El Nino: Water elemental damage to all Plasma: Lightning Damage to one Specter: Confuses enemy Wild Bear: 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. Wild Bear, 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. Specter is mostly novelty, but isn't bad. Dusk Requiem: Home Terrain: Caves Abilities: Cave In: Reduces Target's HP by 75%, adds Seizure Status Snare: Instant Death to one enemy Elf Fire: Fire damage to one Poison Frog: Poison Damage to one Comments: Pretty average, this damage isn't much on raw damage, albeit, since the only damage attacks are rare. This dance has a few terrain areas, but thing is, the enemies there always seem to be geared against it (high magic defense w/ instant death immunity, fire/poison absorption, etc.) Snowman Jazz: Home Terrain: Snowy Hills behind Narshe Abilities: Snowball: Reduces enemy's HP by 50% Surge: Ice damage to all Snare: Instant Death to one Ice Rabbit: 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. Final Thoughts: Mog is a solid character, all things considered; he just takes some knowing how to make use of him. He's also the most randomly thought out character in the game, as there's no rhyme or reason for anything what he does (his equipment scheme is the most inconsistent thing in the game) Granted, its that feature that makes Mog fun. He's a decent investment, though, as a reminder, late game, he really needs that Snow Muffler to see any use. ======= | Edgar | ======= Stats: Extra HP: 49 Extra MP: 6 Vigor: 39 Speed: 30 Stamina: 34 Magic Power: 29 Battle Power: 20 Defense: 50 Evade: 4% Magic Defense: 22 M. Block: 1% Level Readjustment: +2 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 indefinably, with absolutely no penalties. Character Analysis: Edgar is probably the first character who joins who you will say "Man, does this guy kick ass" or something along those lines. Frankly, when he first joins, he does. Best damage dealer, which is also Multi Target, AND it's free, also having Confusion to boot, and your best defense at that, not to mention his damage ignores the back row. When this damage starts to decline, he just gets better damage right after it. Edgar is a favorite of new players due to how he comes in with a bang, and said "bang" never exactly fades, or rather, its fading Is far slower than other attacks, as Edgar builds up the skill set far faster than other characters. But how is Edgar in reality? Oddly, for all that he is hyped to hell to the point where you'd think he's overrated, he is actually deserving of it, in some sense. Mind, Edgar is a victim of an odd type of characterization; the one who is a great character, but liked for all the wrong reasons. What am I referring too? Well, yes, in the WoB, Tools kick ass. No denying this. Chain Saw and Drill are among the top damage dealing attacks, and have no flaws whatsoever, really, besides being single target. Noise Blaster takes down randoms by making them unable to attack you in a sense as well. However, people will rave about these moves being great no matter what part of the game. Truth be told, in the WoR, Chain Saw and Drill aren't special attacks, in terms of damage. Sure, they aren't total trash, but there are so many other BETTER ways to do damage later on, and Edgar himself can even be put to better use than using Tools. Anyway, enough ranting about how Edgar gets love for the wrong reasons lets look at Edgar's character. You can tell by his stats that he's defiantly a physical fighter, and his equipment would back this up too. He more or less uses all the same stuff Terra and Celes has, just loses the Female Specifics, Flails and early game mage equips, and replaces it with…the Regal Crown, Red Jacket, and Spears. Ok, he's defiantly on the losing end of armor, no mistake (come on, Minerva beats Red Jacket in everything but Vigor, and Stamina), but he wins in weapons quite cleanly (OH NOES! NOT FLAILS!) Overall equipment? Get to that later, maybe. Anyway, this means Edgar's defense throughout most of the game ends up being fairly good throughout. However, there is a flaw to his equipment. In the WoB, he has no armors with anything special attached. Sure, he gets the Gold Shield, but that's where the decency in armor ends, really. He's restricted to using pure defensive gear, or totally universal stuff (Bard's Hat and Green Beret, mainly), meaning his options are quite limited. He's also one of two characters who can't use the Gaia Gear, which hurts his Magic Defense, as well as him being a good candidate for the Floating Continent. It’s not much of a flaw, to be fair, but its kind of annoying. WoR comes in, Edgar's equipment makes quite a jump. For starters, he can use Force Armor. That alone shows how much better his equipment options are. He also now gets the option of equipping the Enhancer, a weapon that gives him some M. Block, AND boosts his Magic Power to the point where he can have passable magic damage to fall back on, as it makes up for his low base Magic Power. Even better is the existence of the Dragon Horn. Like Mog, Edgar can use spears, so pairing him with Dragoon Boots, Dragon Horn, and a decent spear really turns Edgar into quote the powerhouse. And Edgar also happens to be one of the four characters who can use the Illumina, not to mention is tied with Terra for 2nd easiest character to reach 128% M. Block (since everything is done in 10% intervals, that 1% and 7% in this case are effectively the same) Yes, Edgar's equipment is pretty nifty, all things considered. Definatly amongst the best in the game, at least end game, probably only outdone by Terra and Celes (blame their female equips) Anyway, Edgar's use basically goes from clearly tools in the WoB to more so a character whose based around having options in equipment. Its pretty interesting how Edgar manages to never actually get bad, despite how his skill set stops getting better early on. Edgar's best feature, IMHO, would be that he's a solid choice no matter what part of the game you are in. Tools make him good early on, his equipment make him a fine character in the WoR. All things considered, Edgar's a nice character to have around. Strategies for Edgar throughout the game: -Remember that Spear you took from Mog? Give it to Edgar. Even though he'll likely never use it, it'll let you give his Mithril Sword directly to Locke and you won't feel like you're are hurting Edgar either by forcing him to use that Dirk or Mithril Knife. -NEVER use Edgar's Fight command early on, EVER. Auto Crossbow is STRONGER than his weapons, and is MT, and can be used in the back row, what have you…its just flat out superior in everyway. However, for a boss… -Bio Blaster will often be the better choice here. See, in random encounters, Auto Crossbow often comes out on top since it ignores split damage (the Damage/2 when hitting multiple enemies part), but for bosses, Bio Blaster is hitting only one target, so it tends to come out ahead. Mind, a noteworthy exception to this is Ultros, who has better magic defense than Defense, so stick with Auto Crossbow there. -Use Noiseblaster to no end. Yes, it doesn't do damage, but…it confuses all enemies. And thus, they won't attack you. If you want to KEEP them that way, have Terra cast Fire, Edgar use Bio Blaster, follow up with Noiseblaster to reapply Confusion, and Locke steal. Pretty insane move early on, really. -When you get to Figaro a 2nd time, Grab the Drill and Flash. Should be obvious, but just reminding you that new stuff is available. -Not to mention make sure you get that Chainsaw in Zozo… -For bosses…Drill vs. Chain Saw, the eternal debate…well, if you are feeling lucky, go with Chain Saw, as its raw damage is better. If you want to go by statistics, go with Drill. Its average damage is better than Chain Saw's, when an enemy is immune to instant death. Granted, if the enemy is not immune to Instant Death, Chain Saw should be an obvious choice -For the Magitek Factory, it's not a bad idea to give Edgar two Earrings/Hero Rings, and let him use Flash. Its an MT damage attack that does decent damage for the time, and its magical, so it doesn't get hit by the enemies high defenses. Best option for Crowd Control here by far, especially since confusion doesn't work on enemies here as well as you'd expect. If you want single target damage, stay with the usual two. -In the WoR, get use to not relying on Chain Saw and Drill. Yeah, they're still solid early on, but you'll note that their damage is slowly declining. They will eventually fall behind, and end up being average-ish damage at best. Its best to start experimenting with Edgar's options as soon as you get the Falchon, so that you can make the transition earlier, per se. -Don't bother with the Regal Crown. Yeah, looks nice on paper, but…its really inferior to the Circlet in most ways that matter, let alone stuff like the Red Cap, or Genji Helmet, or just the Bard's Hat. -Spear or Sword…this is something you'll likely find yourself trying to figure out in the WoR. Depends on how you are treating Edgar. If you want Edgar to play defensively, defiantly stick with the Sword, specifically the Enhancer. Offensively, go with the Spear, and throw on some Dragoon Boots and Dragon Horn. Either way works fine. Edgar's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Pearl Lance Aura Lance Illumina Enhancer Atma Weapon Helmets: Bard's Hat Red Cap Genji Helmet Regal Crown Circlet Armor: Force Armor Genji Armor Red Jacket Ideal End Game Set ups for Edgar: Set Up #1: Pearl Lance Thunder Shield Red Cap/Genji Helmet Genji Armor Dragoon Boots Dragon Horn Edgar's answer to Mog's dragoon set up. Genji Armor gives him a nice defense and Magic defense boost, while also giving him a boost to Vigor and Speed. Thunder Shield is used here since there's unlimited supply of them, and gives some elemental resists, something this set up needs. Red Cap vs. Genji Helmet can go either way; better defense vs. more HP and a Vigor boost. Pearl Lance makes the damage not bad, as its quite a step up from Partisan. Probably Edgar's best offensive set up overall. However, note that this set up is generally inferior to Mog's version, but the difference is this is ONE of the potential set ups Edgar can opt for if he wants Damage. Alternatives to this set up exist, mind. Force Armor vs. Genji Armor was a tough call here, mostly comes down to the shield. For example, if you plan on using an elemental shield, Genji Armor probably comes better than Force Armor here, meanwhile, if using Force or Aegis Shield, Force Armor will most defiantly be better. This was just a good set up regardless of party, as it doesn't really interfere with anyone, since both Genji Shield and Genji Armor come in unlimited quantities, more or less, while there's a set amount of Force Armors, Force Shields, and Aegis shields each game (and Elemental Shields tend to be a bit situational too) Set Up #2: Enhancer Force Shield Bard's Hat Force Armor White Cape White Cape Edgar's 128% M. block Set up, the one that doesn't require using that elusive Illumina anyway. While Edgar's offense will likely be lacking in this set up (no Dragoon Combo, and his magic isn't exactly stellar), like all 128% M. Block characters, he'll be really freaking hard to kill. A good insurance policy of sorts, basically. While not the master of the "Play Defensively in the back row while slinging spells" strategy, he does do it fine enough, making a decent 2ndary character for the job should you will it. Set Up #3: Illumina Aegis Shield Bard's Hat Force Armor Hero Ring This set up can use any relics, really, hence why I didn't list a 2nd one. Hero Ring is listed however cause it just fits nicely into making this setup's offense better (not only does it boost Illumina's damage, but the Pearl it randomly casts afterwards gets a boost too) Basically, this is the way Edgar goes if he wants to have that nasty 128% M. Block AND some good offense (Illumina smacks are surprisingly painful) Flaw of this set up? Obviously, there's only one Illumina, so using it on Edgar here means someone else can't use it, so be sure you want Edgar wielding Illumina when you consider this set up, as its possible someone else in your team might want it instead (but this comes down to what you want, I'm just reminding you only one Illumina exists) 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) -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 (when you could actually use the discount) -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) -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! Skillset: Edgar's skillset, 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: This is really nasty early on, as its STRONGER than his weapon, hits multiple enemies and ignores back row, having no flaws. Problems? It becomes rather weak by the time you finish Narshe Battle sequence, to the point where its use is no longer practical. Bio Blaster: 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: Nice alternative for damage to the Auto Crossbow, this is fairly solid early on, and the poison status is nifty too. Good for bosses, in general. This thing single handedly rips apart the Narshe Battle sequence too. However, like Auto Crossbow, this too becomes obsolete. Noiseblaster: Obtained at: Obtained at: Figaro Castle shop, and the weapon Shop in South Figaro. Effects: Adds confusion status to all enemies Comments: Really nasty throughout the entire WoB. Its Multitarget, and it never fails barring immunity. Great for taking out randoms. Loses use later on when enemies start becoming immune to its status, though, its an excellent way to find out if an enemy can be confused or not (since if it fails, you know the enemy is immune), assuming you're too lazy to check the Monster Statistics Guide <_< >_> Flash: Obtained at: Figaro Castle, after the Narshe Battle sequence Effects: Non elemental Magic damage to all Comments: Replaces Bio Blaster 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 defiantly 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: This tool sounds great in theory. I mean, what's better than giving bosses weaknesses, right? To be frank, this is possibly his worst tool. See, most enemies already have a weakness, especially to the big 3 elements, making it an easy to apply elemental weakness anyway. This tool is wasted on random encounters, since its single target, and your net damage would be higher just using Edgar's turn to do some damage. Lastly, unless you are using Shadow and have a healthy stock of elemental weapons to throw, should it bring up an elemental weakness to, say, Earth, a hard to apply element, that's just as good as a wasted turn (especially if the enemy is floating, in the case of Earth, as now a grand total of 3 attacks hit its weakness (Gravity Rod physical, Throw Gravity Rod, and LifeShaver)) IOWs, I suggest you avoid usage of this tool beyond novelty. It sounds useful in theory and on paper…but its pretty bad in reality. 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. For starters, its basically a standard Instant Death attack, one that has perfect accuracy at the cost of letting the enemy live a whole turn. This means that you could have just cast X-zone, Summoned Odin, or whatever, and have gotten the same results, or better, as those are MT. Air Anchor also has the little flaw of not doing damage unless the enemy is hit with the instant death, so that Damage part is as useless as Mog's Cockatrie's damage. The tool has NO use against bosses, really, since all but the obscure scrub boss here and there are immune to instant death. To be blunt, unless you want to laugh at the enemies, I'd avoid this tool, and just cast the freaking Doom spell if you want instant death. Sure, it can miss, but odds say it'll hit anyway. Some Ultimate Tool, huh? Final Thoughts: Edgar comes in with a bang, and keeps that fire going…or something, I dunno. He's probably the only character who starts off kick ass, and continues to be a good character throughout (unlike characters such as Terra, who may end up better in the long run, need some time to get going) Tools are great, but they are somewhat overrated late in the game, which happens to the time when Edgar gets a few new tricks to try out anyway from his nifty equips. Yes, Edgar, similar to Terra, has strength in equips late game, its best to use him for those. A very good character to invest in, both newbies and vets would agree on this alike, even if the reasons are completely different <_< ======= | SABIN | ======= Stats: Extra HP: 58 Extra MP: 3 Vigor: 47 Speed: 37 Stamina: 39 Magic Power: 28 Battle Power: 26 Defense: 53 Evade: 12% Magic Defense: 21 M. Block: 4% Level Readjustment: +2 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 Pummel) 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: Sabin can be classified quite easily; he's a favorite of new players (if not THE favorite), and the "black sheep" of vets. Sabin has a lot of misconceptions about him, mostly of him being looked up to as the "Orlandu" of FF6 (sorry for the FFT term), involving such claims as "Excellent physical fighter with decent magic!" or "Great all arounder!" Truth be told, a lot of that is actually false. I'll get more specific about it later. For the most part, though, Sabin gets the most love for two words; Bum Rush. Yes, his trade mark attack, the big massive damage move of the WoR that only he can use. That seems to be the sole purpose of why he is praised…at least to a new player. If you ask a vet, they'll likely say it's mostly his only saving grace. Alright, so what type of character is Sabin? Surely a fighter, right? I mean, look at Vigor, and Battle Power! They're #1 in both categories (nixing Umaro, who fails to count as usual, and Gau for Battle Power who can't use weapons)! And he has high stamina and game best base defense too! And he's a martial artist, of course he's a fighter, right? WRONG! Sabin is kind of the opposite of Mog, if you remove all the weird crap surrounding Mog. See, while Mog ends up being an effective physical fighter despite crap physical stats and good magic stats, Sabin is actually more so a mage of sorts. See, Sabin's weapons are really not special at all, so that Vigor goes to waste. And more over, his Blitzes, besides Suplex and Pummel, are based off his Magic Power. This ultimately leads to somewhat of a disaster, as Mage with low Magic Power finds it harder to come back than a fighter with low physical stats (Due to how Magic Power > Vigor, for their respective attacks) Sabin's equipment is amongst the worst in the game, if not THE worst. WoB, its alright, only really lacking the Gold Shield. He gets the Tiger Mask as an interesting semi-unique option of sorts; Fire Knuckles are a strong weapon for the time you get them, and he can use Gaia Gear. However, come the WoR, you'll notice his equipment woes. His Best armor is the Red Jacket…you'll note that everyone but Gogo gets at least Genji Armor or above for armor. He has no special helmets worth noting (Regal Crown, again, isn't nearly as good in practice as it is on paper) His weapon isn't that bad, as it gives some stat boosts, but its nothing special in particular, as it has no quirks (no M. Block boosting, defense ignoring, random spells, what have you) Yeah, Sabin's equipment is rather mediocre, no matter how you look at it. On the plus side, most of it is somewhat unique, so he doesn't interfere with other character set ups, and it makes deciding what equips to give him easier too! Fine that's not much, but its something…maybe? Oh, bah. Sabin isn't much of a fighter, despite his physical stats. You'll notice the Good Fighters end game all either have a weapon that ignores defense (Valiant Knife for example), an auto critical weapon (Illumina), spears (Dragoon combo reason), or a weapon that's a class by itself (Fixed Dice…) Sabin unfortunately has none of those. The only weapons with special effects he has are the Fire Knuckles and the Poison Claw, which cast random weak spells. Sabin's Blitzes being magical, for the most part, support the concept of using him as a fighter is a waste. Yes, believe it or not, the little 3 foot Moogle has better potential as a fighter than the hulking Martial Artist. So what about Blitzes? Are they worth the hype? In Short, no, they aren't. Yes, they are good, but they aren't the be all, end all attacks. When Sabin first joins, yes, they seem nice, however, they are single target attacks, until Fire Dance, which isn't gotten til considerably later. This makes Sabin more or less the same character as Shadow and Cyan early on: Good at killing lone enemies. Technically, he's your best boss fighter early on, but there aren't that many bosses. Sabin's first actual attack that stands out is Fire Dance. A Nice free MULTI TARGET damage attack with no flaws besides its element. This is his main ability in the WoB, really, and his only actual worth. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, Edgar's Flash is every bit as good, as is Setzer's 7 Flush, which also Focuses doing MORE damage than AURA BOLT to a single enemy. In the WoR, he gets Bum Rush, which is great damage, make no mistake…alas, other means of doing high damage exist, such like Shadow is now an actual option and not a "Come and Go" Character, as well as things like the Gem Box, and Offering now available. The nicest thing about Bum Rush, really, is how early he can get it, and how there's no flaws to it, beyond the inability to Target. To be fair, though, if you take time to invest some Magic Power into Sabin, his damage can be pretty nasty. His attacks do have high Spell Powers; it's just his base Magic Power isn't much, so the damage they do isn't as good as the spell power would imply. So if you plan on using Sabin, Magic Power should be his top priority. As a reminder, his physical blitzes pretty much never have a reason to be raised (especially after he gets Bum Rush), since they are typically weaker, and Vigor does less for them than Magic Power does for his other blitzes (that, and both MT blitzes are magical, so reasons to raise offensive stats after he hits the damage limit with Bum Rush STILL support Magic Power) To be frank, Sabin comes in with a bang, and at first glance, he seems great, but the more you look into him, he's really just a lazy man character. He seems good if you don't take time to build the other characters, and at first, sounds like a great damage dealer, til you actually look into the options of the other characters. All in all, Sabin is a flawed character with a few tricks, but overall, you're likely better off using someone else once you learn how to make them good. One nice thing about Sabin, though, is that he will always have, at worst, passable offense, so having him in your team means you have at least someone with good damage, handy if you're using characters who are busy learning their damaging moves (like Relm who requires good spells to do good damage.) Strategies for Sabin throughout the game: -When Sabin first joins, be sure to give him a Shield. Mog's Mithril Shield is likely a safe bet, as the other characters at the moment have Heavy Shields, which while worse, are less of a step down than Sabin's options (the Buckler) -NEVER buy any weapons for Sabin. Trust me, they are a waste of money. Early on, Sabin's damage comes entirely from Blitzes, are they are flat out better than his physical in everyway, and later, he'll get Fire Knuckles, which kicks the crap out of any weapons he can get until the WoR, when he can finally get the Dragon Claw. Really, the only use to Sabin's weapons in the WoB is if you pair him with the Black Belt. -Speaking of Black Belt, that's not a bad idea to give Sabin, given the Fire Knuckles IS the strongest weapon in the game for some time, it means Sabin is likely to make the most use of it. Unfortunately, the damage won't be impressive unless he's in the front row, and he probably prefers defensive Relics or Earrings/Hero Rings anyway -Speaking of Back Row, Sabin should always be there. Blitzes > his fight command, and they ignore row anyway. Seems like a trivial decision to me. -Don't bother with Tiger Mask. Yeah, +3 to Vigor and +2 to Speed seem nice, but really, Sabin isn't using his Vigor much, and Speed doesn't do as much as you'd like in FF6. Better off shoving a Green Beret or Bard's Hat, and using their defensive advantages -Sabin should more or less rely on Fire Dance or Aura Bolt, depending on Situation. Pummel is only useful for ST damage when the enemy has high magic defense or is immune/absorbs Holy (Ifrit and Shiva come to mind) Suplex never really sees much use in general. -Mind, in the Sealed Cave, probably best to stick to Aura Bolt. Ings there absorb Fire, so Aura Bolt is best option (especially since they are weak) Zombones can have fun with Fire Dance though, providing they aren't paired with Ings. -WoR, use similar strategies as WoB, except when you get Air Blade, use that instead of anything, and when you get Bum Rush, use that for his ST damage. Note that the early parts of the WoR (Figaro Cave/Basement, and Daryl's Tomb) have lots of Fire Weak enemies anyway, so Fire Dance will still likely be a better option should you get Air Blade during those scenarios. After that? Yeah, best to stick with that. Bum Rush will pretty much always beat Aura Bolt in damage, though, weakness be damned. -NEVER use Spiraler. Killing off Sabin for full healing of the team is not worth it when you could just do the same thing with Cure 3, and still keep one a prime damage dealer alive to boot. And dangerous MT Status moves aren't common enough to render the Status Healing necessary either. Sabin's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Tiger Fangs Helmets: Red Cap Bard's Hat Circlet Genji Helmet Armor: Red Jacket Ideal End game set-ups: Set Up #1: Tiger Fangs Genji Shield Circlet Red Jacket Hero Ring Earrings This set up makes the most of Bum Rush and Air Blade's damage, by maxing out his magic damage. Genji Shield helps make up for the Red Jacket's general scrubbiness. Tiger Fangs and Circlet give some boosts to Magic Power, so they complement the set up nicely. This set up might not be as brutal as the ones listed for the above characters, but with limited equips, there's not much you can do. If you are wondering why Earrings instead of a second Hero Ring…its cause physical boosters don't stack, so a second Hero Ring is literally just acting like an earring. Since Earrings are easier to get than Hero Ring, I figured I'd just list that. Miscellaneous Info on Sabin: -Sabin can kill Vargas before the tutorial. Just use Pummel right on the spot, and he dies. Or you could try and kill him with damage, but given Vargas' HP, you'd need to be really high leveled… -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 Falchon. 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) -Sabin is one of the only characters in the game who, should you wish to max out MP, requires *5* levels, instead of the standard 4, of Crusader, used at the proper time. Not a big deal, but noteworthy for people who obsess over that perfect 999 MP at level 99. Note that if you only use 4 levels, he misses by 1 MP, so yeah. Skillset: 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. Pummel: 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 Bolt, which is generally superior. Good if you need a fail safe attack, I guess. Aura Bolt: 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 Air Blade, basically) Besides being elemental (which is a double edged sword), this Blitz has no flaws, and is about on par with a Level 2 spell for power. Suplex: 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 Bolt, 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, Pummel will do more damage. Fire Dance: 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 Air Blade anyway. Mantra: 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 Remedy and Cure 2 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. Air Blade: Gained at level 30 Effects: Wind elemental damage to all enemies Comments: Great Blitz. This is basically like a "Fire Dance 2" of sorts, nixing the different element. Great for crowd control, and not too shabby (though nothing special) 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 nulled/absorbed. Spiraler: 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, Cure 3 already exists anyway. Avoid this Blitz unless you are absolutely desperate and are confident you can win without Sabin! Bum Rush: Gained at level 70, or by meeting Duncan in his Hut Effects: Non elemental magic damage to one foe Comments: Sabin's best Blitz by far, at least for raw damage (you could argue Air Blade is better for overall use.) 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 some turns he'd rather use Air Blade. It's generally his best damage by far until really high levels, when Offering physical out powers it (though, this goes for ANY character, mind, not just Sabin) Final Thoughts: Sabin at first seems great, but he's a rather average character all things. No real tricks beyond some solid damage, and he has arguably the worst equipment draw of ANY character in the game. Yes, his Blitzes do good damage, however, with a bit of equipment working, and some spell teaching (and no, I don't mean teach everyone Ultima), other characters can compete with him in the only domain he actually excelled in. Use Sabin if you like him, there's no real penalty, but just understand that Sabin really isn't all that stellar a character, all things considered. ======== | SHADOW | ======== Stats: Extra HP: 51 Extra MP: 6 Vigor: 39 Speed: 38 Stamina: 30 Magic Power: 33 Battle Power: 23 Defense: 47 Evade: 28% Magic Defense: 25 M. Block: 9% Level Readjustment: +0 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, and all other factors but elemental affinities are ignored. When throwing scrolls, the affect is based on the scroll itself. Miscellaneous extra for Shadow: Interceptor: 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 its on the Floating Continent, or he is hit with Rippler. Character Analysis: Shadow is probably one of the only characters that gets all the love he deserves, as a whole. Most people will agree he's a great character, and only a very few will go as far as to deem him "the best" so the level of overratedness (yay made up word!) is limited, per se. Shadow is indeed a solid character overall, having no real glaring flaws to hold him back. So what kind of character is Shadow? On one hand, he's generally a physical character, given his skillset is mostly physical. On the flipside, he's a versatile one in the sense that he can be made a decent back up mage in a pinch, and Skeans are good magic damage for early parts (Effectively level 2.5s for damage) Mind, don't go thinking you can suddenly transform him into a mage, and he'll be performing as good as Celes in the department, I mean his magic is good enough that should you need some secondary magic damage, he can do a passable enough job of it. This ultimately leaves Shadow good for any offensive situation, really, though for the most part, Throw will be his best damage. One nifty thing about Shadow is that he's the only character can genuinely hit every elemental weakness in the game effectively (meaning weak attacks like Bismark for Water don't count), due to there being at least one store bought weapon for each element. Thus, Shadow can pretty much ALWAYS apply weakness, should you need it. Granted, this aspect is more just a fun tibit in his favor, more so than an actual advantage, but hey, it's something. Shadow has another nice feature in having some interesting equips. Mind, I'll tell you now; his equipment options aren't particularly stellar. However, they aren't bad either, like Sabin, lets say. Thief Knife for example gives a minor boost to speed, and 10% M. Block, as well as makes him a 2nd Thief (3rd if you have Gogo), of sorts. Stunner is a unique random casting weapon in that it randomly uses stop, a status that works on a surprising amount of enemies. And there's the Striker and Assassin, two weapons that add instant death randomly, and work well paired with offering (doesn't ignore replacement effects) His Helmet options are like most males, in that he gets…well, nothing special. His best armor is the Genji Armor, which is a decent set up from Dark Gear, but again, nothing special for an ultimate armor. Yeah, Shadow's has some interesting options in weapons, but overall, his equips are fairly average-ish. He can use the Memento Ring though, which is good as there are a limited supply of (easy to get) Safety Bits, so using him in your party helps narrow down who to give that Safety Bit too, since Memento Ring is identical anyway, and doesn't conflict with any characters (but Relm…though, there are two Memento Rings anyway, so it doesn't matter) Shadow's main nuisance? Lack of usage early on. To be frank, Shadow would RULE if you could use him in the WoB more often. His damage is top notch, and having the little interceptor bit doesn't hurt…not to mention his damage can be targeted. Granted, Square probably realized this, and made him a hard to get character early on cause they hate us. Also, this means Shadow misses out on some valuable Esper time in the WoB to get some spells early on (like getting Cure 2 for the Floating Continent) Shadow is also quite anti physical. Interceptor already provides a 50% chance to shield against just about any physical thrown at him, with a small chance to counter with some Flaresque damage. Better yet, he's the only character (besides Gogo), who can reapply the Image status consistently in battle, meaning if timed correctly, you can make Shadow continually immune to physical damage w/out worrying about Magic attacks screwing it over in one shot, like Invis status causes. Speaking of that, Shadow gets that as well…early in fact, nice for when you're running into an area filled with lots of enemies. I hate to use another character to describe Shadow's use, but its fitting here. All things considered, Shadow is an improved Sabin. His damage might be a touch below late game, but its close enough that advantages of better equipment, interceptor, and some versatility in weapons and attack strategies tend to more than outweigh this. He's likely not the best character in the game, no, but he's still a very solid one, worth using late game when he finally joins permanently in the WoR. Strategies for Shadow throughout the game: -When you first get Shadow, be sure to buy 99 Shurikens. This way, he can hurl them to his hearts delight, and you'll never worry about running out. What about affording them? Shurikens cost 30 each, which means 2970 is needed to buy them (that's 30 less than Drill before the Discount, if you are curious), which isn't that expensive at all. Shadow Edge and Invis Edge…you can grab some of those if you want, but probably not necessary. -Also, have an extra Buckler handy (likely you stripped from Terra or Edgar, and didn't sell) for Shadow, as he doesn't come with a shield. You should also have a helmet ready too, as he doesn't come with that either. A little Extra defense can't hurt, no? This is assuming you have stuff, of course -Like most characters, Shadow should stay in the back row. Throw ignores back row, as does interceptor, and Shadow almost never uses his Fight command. -Shadow should NEVER use his Fight command until late in the game. Throw is flat out better, and you should always have enough ammo to get you through a dungeon. Only weapons that have ample use on Shadow for a fight command in the WoB are the Thief Knife (random capture), and the Assassin (Random Instant death) -Speaking of weapons, don't bother buying any weapons for Shadow (unless its for throwing ammo), ever. Similar to Sabin, he's not going to use his Fight command for damage ever. Again, both Thief Knife and Assassin are the only ones you should bother giving him, the former gives +10% M. Block and +2 speed, the latter gives a minor boost to Magic Power instead of the M. Block -Do NOT grab him during the Zozo arc. This is his favorite place to leave you hanging dry, and worse, he costs 3000 GP to get. For all that he's a great character there, that unreliability makes him more of a liability, so just leave him alone for now. -Even worse idea is getting him for the Opera House sequence, if you skipped the former. Shadow WILL leave MID WAY through the Opera House, FORCING you to use 3 characters for the Magitek Factory sequence (2 for the 2nd fight with Ultros, and the Mine Cart sequence), which isn't fun. More proof Square hates us, I say -Speaking of Shadow leaving, any time he's about to leave, strip him of his equips. Don't necessarily sell them, as they may still be his best stuff, but why not let other characters equip them at the time, right? Of course, remember to re-equip him when he joins. -As usual, on the FC, the Gaia gear is your friend. Sure, he could use the Power Sash for increased damage, but even with 2x defense ignoring damage, the +5 to Vigor isn't as high as it seems. -After you get Shadow in the WoR, you should invest all your money for him. Most of the best stuff is not gotten in chests anyway, and items are dirt cheap anyway (especially in Figaro Castle and South Figaro with Edgar) I suggest first getting a healthy stock of Ninja Stars, as they are cheap, and insure Shadow's damage is always good, then start working on Elemental Weapons and Falchions. If you want, try to get some Imp Halberds, as they are THE BEST throwing weapon in FF6 that can be gotten in bulk. If you really want too, spend some time in the Coliseum getting Tack Stars (bet Ninja Stars), but they aren't worth it, IMHO, as Falchions do very similar damage anyway. -What weapons to get for applying Elemental damage you say? Check the Frequently Asked Questions section to answer this Shadow's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Thief Knife Assassin Stunner Striker Helmets: Red Cap Bard's Hat Circlet Genji Helmet Armor: Genji Armor Ideal End game set ups: Set Up #1: Thief Knife Thunder Shield Genji Helmet Genji Armor Hero Ring Decent well balanced Set up. Thunder Shield covers some elemental defenses, Genji Helmet gives that extra defensive boost he might like using a weaker shield, while Thief Knife adds a bit of M. Block. Hero Ring gives him a nice Boost to damage, Best part of this set up is it doesn't really interfere with any other character's. As usual, fill that 2nd Relic slot up with whatever you want (Marvel Shoes, some status protection, what have you) Set Up #2: Assasin Thunder Shield Genji Helmet Genji Armor Offering The Defensive gear is the same cause they all share the same purpose. Offering + Assassin makes Shadow's "Fight" command actually worth something, as chances are, he'll hit at least SOMETHING with the instant death, while doing some OK damage in the process. Assassin also gives him a minor magic boost, so in case you want Shadow to be a mage, this set up isn't bad, I'd however, give him a Circlet (+4 to magic Power) See above set up for what to do with that 2nd Relic slot. Set Up #3: Stunner Thunder Shield Genji Helmet Genji Armor Dragoon Boots Dragon Horn This is a great set up for the Coliseum, especially if Shadow knows little magic. This lets Shadow hit the enemy several times for decent damage, AND each shot checks for stop status, which helps a lot in the Coliseum. Outside? Still a decent enough set up, not the greatest, but hey, can't hurt to do damage and stop on the same turn, right? Miscellaneous Info about Shadow: -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 Sr. 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. Shame too… -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 antoher 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 Muddle, before Shadow casts Muddle, 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 is MALE. I know this is obvious, but so many people, thanks to one minor text goof up where it’s the same line used for Relm, will think he is a she, despite all the other Male pronouns used for him the entire game. If you've seen Shadow's dreams, you should easily be able to tell that was a mere typo in the text. So yeah, ignore that "Take her back to thamasa!" line, as Shadow is male. The PSX Version even fixed that Line, more proof it was a goof up. Sorry, not important, but you'd be surprised how many people think Shadow is female cause of ONE scene. Skillset: Shadow's Throw skillset can throw many weapons. Its hard to evaluate them, though, I'll mention the "Throw Only" abilities, I guess. 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. Ninja Star: 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 bit more expensive, but still easy to horde lots of. Shadow's main source of damage, kind of, in the WoR. Tack Star: Gotten in a few chests around the WoR, and through betting a Ninja Star 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 Imp Halberds, and use those instead. Shadow Edge: Bought at various shops Effects: Adds Image status to Shadow Comments: Nifty little trick. More fun than useful, likely, but it can still serve some use. Invis Edge: Bought at various shops Effects: Adds Invis status 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 Skean: 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. Its 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 a level 2, but worse than a level 3) If you can afford these, stock up on lots of these early, they are quite nice. Water Edge: Bought at various shops Effects: Water Elemental Magic damage to all enemies Comments: Also a fine item, though, I'd personally get least of these of the 3 skeans. These are as strong, yes, but Water weakness is a bit harder to come bye, so their more situational than the other two skeans. Still worth getting a few, though. Bolt Edge: Bought at various shops Effects: Lighting elemental Mgaic Damgae to all. Comments: This thing is great when you can hit lighting weakness, especially early on. The lightning version of Fire Skean. Probably more reliable as Lighting Resistance is rarer than Fire resistance though, on the flip side, far less enemies are weak to it, so it balances out. Good idea to get an ample supply of these, like the other two skeans. Final Thoughts: 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. 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, but the more I think about it, the more Shadow just strikes me as an improved Sabin. ====== | CYAN | ====== Stats: Extra HP: 53 Extra MP: 5 Vigor: 40 Speed: 28 Stamina: 33 Magic Power: 25 Battle Power: 25 Defense: 48 Evade: 6% Magic Defense: 20 M. Block: 1% Level Readjustment: +2 Special ability: Sword Tech Effects: If Cyan is equipped with a weapon that is tagged "Sword-tech", then he will be able to access this command. Cyan will then be prompted to wait for his meter to fill up. The longer he waits, the higher level tech he uses. Bar initially starts at level 1, and proceeds to whatever his highest level tech is. Should the bar exceed the limit, then it resets back to 1. What tech is currently "ready" is the highest number currently lit up. Character Analysis: There's not much to say about Cyan. Well, his sword techs, once taken the time to charge up, do good damage, though whether they are worth the time or not is another deal. And his equipment doesn't totally suck ass. Then there's the tempest. But…that's about all I can say about Cyan. He is a good example of a character gone wrong. His Swordtechs are decent on paper, but the time they take to charge just really sinks him. The damage they do…isn't much better than "to go" attacks, really. Alright, there is a way to make the charge times more barable, besides Quick anyway (Which overpowers ANYTHING in FF6) If you have Cyan charging his attacks while everyone goes, he won't slow down the team as much, however, note that this kind of requires the team to first all fill up their ATB gauge, THEN have them all go, THEN have Cyan start charging. Unless you use Long Animation attacks (which tend to kill things anyway), this often gets him to about Quadra Slam (Level 4) or there abouts. However, realize this STILL slows down your team, as you have to wait for the whole team to get their ATB gauge up, assuming it doesn't fill up nicely (which is unlikely), so you'll be waiting anyway. What about not charging his attack up? Well, then you are left with Dispatch, which while sufficient early on, fades away pretty fast. This ultimately would make Cyan an inferior version of Edgar in everyway. Now, good equipment could save a character like this, right? To be fair, he gets a nice weapon in the Tempest, and is the only character who can equip two of them AND the offering at the same time. Tempest is the only weapon that has an MT Special effect, hence why it stands out. This is about the only real advantage Cyan has for equips. Well, that, and the Force Armor, though, that's shared with 5 other characters, so you could say the same for them, and likely find other uses. Worse, Cyan's magic stat is THE WORST in the game, and he has no Magic boosting equips in the WoB, and nothing besides generic stuff (Circlet and Genji Armor) in the WoR. So its hard to say "have him use magic instead of Swordtechs" since I could throw in, say, Relm, who can also use Magic, and at much better proficiency. So unlike some characters who have subpar special abilities, Cyan doesn't make up for it by performing decently in the area of magic. One thing often hyped about Cyan is how he makes an excellent Genji Glvoe + Offering Character, similar to Sabin. Unless you give him Two Tempests and/or Scimitars, he's actually a pretty mediocre one, worse than Sabin in everyway at it, to boot. Tempest and Scimitar at least means that the odds of them kicking in will happen more often, so there is some merit there, especially if you are using two. However, as far as raw physical damage goes, your better off sticking with the swordsmen (Terra, Edgar, Locke, and Celes) or Setzer for Offering set ups. Again, Tempest + Offering isn't a bad strategy, though, but dual Sky Renders (or rather, Dual anything not Tempest or Scimitar) is not a good Offering set up at all (heck, MOG does comparable damage with 2 Aura Lances and the Offering as Cyan would with 2 Sky Renders) So yeah, don't get swayed into thinking that Cyan makes a prime Physical Fighter with the Offering, as he does not. In fairness, you can use Quick to remedy the Charge Time issue, however, it’s a spell gotten rather late, at a slow learning rate (though Desert of Maranda can take care of that), which improves just about anyone drastically. As some people put it, Quick merely makes Cyan go from somewhat under whelming to usable, instead of good to better like most characters get. Its more a case of Cyan gets a bigger boost relatively than the other characters, but the other characters still get huge benefits from said spell anyway, Cyan still ends up trailing behind. In the end, Cyan is a character with one decent weapon, and some good moves that take more planning than they are worth to use effectively, and even then, they slow your team down, and they don't exactly give you what you want too. Seriously, as much as I hate to say it, Cyan is far from an impressive character. Strategies for Cyan throughout the game: -When Cyan first joins, give him a Heavy Shield. You should have gotten at least bought one extra at South Figaro, or conversely, give him Locke's Shield, as Locke is likely using Genji Glove/Gauntlet now anyway. -Don't bother buying ANY weapons for Cyan, ever. Dispatch is pretty much always stronger than his physical. So yes, keep him with Asura the entire time, more or less. His Attacks are not strengthened by Weapon, so an Asura Dispatch is every bit as strong as a Sky Render one. -However, should you pick up a better weapon via non money means, might as well equip that, especially if its something like the Murasame that can't be sold for any decent money. However, its best to just stick too… -The Tempest or Scimitar. These are the ONLY weapons with a reason to be used over Dispatch. Tempest can randomly cause MT damage to enemies, so its good if you want some quick crowd control. Scimitar, meanwhile, randomly inflicts instant death, good if you know Dispatch won't kill an enemy, so you're hoping for a 25% chance to kill with less damage, instead of 0% chance with better damage. -Until Cyan gets the Tempest, he should always be in the back row. Sword Techs ignore row, so that option is obvious. After Tempest? Tempest's Wind Slash doesn't ignore row, so where Cyan is placed actually matters. Between better MT damage, or better defenses, really. -Cyan should equip Power Sash in the WoB. The stat boosts it gives are overall better than the defensive edge the Gold Armor grants to Cyan. Unfortunately, Cyan does not have the choice of Gaia Gear, which hurts at that point of the game. -Cyan's WoR weapons, besides Scimitar and Tempest, should all be bet at the Coliseum and turned into Pearl Lances. Trust me, the Pearl Lance is considerably more valuable than any of those weapons, as Cyan isn't using them ever (Scimitar beats all but Sky Render (gotten too late anyway) for Raw Power, let alone has instant death, Tempest just has a kick ass special ability, which owns the damage increase the other weapons grant) Cyan's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Tempest Scimitar Sky Render Helmets: Bard's Hat Circlet Red Cap Genji Helmet Armor: Genji Armor Force Armor Ideal End Game Set ups for Cyan: Set Up #1: Tempest Genji Shield Circlet Force Armor Hero Ring Offering This set up is based mostly around bashing enemies with the Tempest. 4 hits means 2 Wind Slashes on average, which is passable damage. Circlet helps up those Wind Slashes damage, as does the Hero Ring. Force Armor gives him some elemental protection and some M. Block, Genji Shield covers up some defensive losses, while adding a bit of M. Block too. Only problem with this set up, as with any offering set up, is that it means the other characters can't use the offering, so use this only if you aren't using other characters who'd like the offering (or characters who can make due fine without it) Set Up #2: Tempest/Scimitar (your choice) Genji Shield Red Cap Force Armor Hero Ring Didn't put a 2nd Relic, since anything would fit their nicely (well, not a Cursed Ring, but that doesn't count), so use your judgement there. Red Cap gives an HP boost, Force Armor + Genji Shield serve the same purpose as in the last set up, Tempest and Scimitar are around in case you know Dispatch isn't going to cut it, and need a To Go attack to be good, hence why they are on. Basically, this set up is the same as the above, only no Offering, should you want to give it someone else. Set Up #3: Tempest Tempest Red Cap Genji Armor Offering Genji Glove If you REALLY like Tempests, use this set up. 8 Hits of Tempests around means an average of 4 Wind Slashes. That's some pretty good MT damage, all things considered. Problems? This Set up lacks defenses, especially since it requires the front row for Cyan to use this optimally. That's why Genji Armor is here, as it helps give Cyan a bit more defense, though, not enough to make up for a Shield, so the Red Cap's HP boost is quite welcome as well. Yeah, if you don't mind the possibility of Cyan dying often, use this set up. Miscellaneous Info on Cyan: -Psycho Cyan Glitch! Yes, the infamous "Make Cyan a damage god!" strategy. Basically, this lets Cyan start a continuous stream of attacks that never ends, due to *2* bugs playing together, which ends up killing things. How do you pull this off? Simpl