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? Simply put, have Cyan use Retort, Imp Him, Kill him, revive him, and then you or the enemy use a basic physical attack, doesn't matter who uses it. Cyan will then start attacking Offering style, and never end the sequence til all enemies die. Mind, if you do this, do NOT equip the Tempest. Once Wind Slash kicks in, the loop ends. Trick is mostly novelty, and most people don't consider it anyway, for reasons similar to Vanish + Doom. -Not many people realize this, but Cyan gets a weapon at the end of the "Cyan's Soul" sequence. That weapon is the "Aura" Should be good, having to go through an entire sequence to get it, and that the game makes it look great and such, right? Actually, the weapon is below the Strato in power (yes, that weapon you get simply by beating Red Dragon), and its inferior in everyway. -Speaking of the Aura, that weapon is the Masamune, the infamous sword that appears in many an FF game (Strongest weapon in FF1 and FF2, Strongest Katana/Dark Sword in FF3 and FF4, 2nd strongest Katana that gave "inniative" in FF5, Sephiroth's weapon, etc.), pity it has to suck here. -Cyan requires 5 of the required levels, like Sabin, to get Max MP. Keep this in mind if you are raising Cyan to the max, and want to make sure he has all 9s in HP and MP. Skillset: Cyan's skillset is learned through levels. HOWEVER, after you beat Cyan's Soul, Cyan learns ALL Swordtechs at once, regardless of level. Sword tech's listed in order of level. So first one is level 1, 2nd is level 2, all the way to level 8. Dispatch: Obtained at Level 1 Effects: Physical damage to one foe Comments: Probably most useful Sword tech in general, only cause it's to go. Beats his fight command for raw damage pretty much always, unless Genji Glove and/or Offering is involved, late game. Retort: Obtained at level 6 Effects: Puts Cyan into a counter mode, of sorts. When hit with a physical attack, he counters with a non-elemental magic attack. Comments: Decent early on, especially paired with a True Knight. Later in the game, though, Dispatch out damages it (you heard me) Good Combo I heard was to give everyone Wall Rings, have them all in Near Fatal status besides Cyan, and give Cyan a True Knight, and you're likely either reflecting a spell, or countering with Retort. More novelty than anything else, mind. Slash: Obtained at level 12 Effects: Deals damage equal to 50% of enemies HP, adds Seizure Status Comments: Not particularly useful. Bosses tend to be immune to it, and Dispatch tends to kill enemies anyway. Late in the game, when doing half damage is more than Dispatch, these enemies like to be immune to it as well. Quadra Slam: Obtained at level 15 Effects: Attacks random enemies with 4 separate attacks. Comments: Not bad on damage, though, this is the first move where the charge times start actually becoming apparent. Also note that unlike Dispatch, this does not ignore defense, so it's worthless on a high defense enemy (like those in the Magitek Factory) Probably the last Swordtech that's actually worth the wait, all things considered. Empowerer: Obtained at level 24 Effects: Magic damage and MP damage to one foe, heals Cyan for an amount equal to the damage done, both HP and MP wise, restricted by Cyan's Max Hp and MP. Comments: Not particularly useful, really. Drain and Osmose more or less do the same thing, this move just puts them into one attack, and adds an annoying charge time on, and you can't aim it. For the most part, its easier to use one of those two moves, as rarely you need to heal BOTH HP and MP. Stunner: Obtained at level 34 Effects: Non-elemental magic damage to all enemies, randomly inflicts Stop Comments: Alright, this is where the Charge times start outweighing the use. Stunner's effectively an improved Air Blade on paper, but the charge times really kill its use (as does Cyan's base magic score) Not particularly useful, though, if you can get the time up without killing all enemies and not harming your own team, then by all means, use it. Quadra Slice: Obtained at level 44 Effects: Attacks random enemies with 4 separate attacks. Difference between this and Quadra Slam is that this Ignores Defense Comments: Again, the charge times really limit the use of this otherwise fine move. Its about as strong as Bum Rush, and due to how algorithms work, Hyper Wirst actually raises its damage decently. Besides that? It's damage is generally matched with a magic spell hitting a weakness, or Sabin's Bum Rush, or Shadow's Throw, or whatever. It's damage, relatively speaking, is just too low to consider useful, and it loses use on multiple foes since its likely to spread hits out, let alone has the chance of hitting the wrong foe several times in a row. Cleaver: Obtained at level 70 Effects: Instant Death to all enemies, dicing style (ala Odin, for example) Comments: WAAAAY too long a charge time to consider this useful. With things like X-zone, and Odin/Raiden around, you're better off just using those, and enemies will die, for MP cost instead of an annoying Charge time. Likely the most useless Sword Tech, as unlike Slash, it takes a while to build up, and unlike the others, there are very easy ways to mimic this through Magic. Final Thoughts: I know I'm probably going to get Lynched for this, but Cyan strikes me as a low tier character. His Sword Techs just aren't worth the time it takes to build up, especially considering many characters can match their damage or abilities being set up properly, or using the right abilities. His Equipment selection isn't exactly stellar either, only the Tempest really stands out as a weapon (which admittedly, it’s a fine weapon), and only Force Armor is his decent armor option. To be frank, Cyan really isn't that great a character, though, thankfully, FF6 is easy enough that you can use him, and there won't be any real flaws, but just know there is almost always better options around. ======= | CELES | ======= Stats: Extra HP: 44 Extra MP: 15 Vigor: 34 Speed: 34 Stamina: 31 Magic Power: 36 Battle Power: 16 Defense: 44 Evade: 7% Magic Defense: 31 M. Block: 9% Level Readjustment: +0 Special Ability: Runic Effects: Celes can only use this ability if she is equipped with a weapon tagged "Runic" (pretty much any edged weapon falls in this category) When this is used, it puts Celes in "Runic" status until her next turn. Under this status, she'll absorb the next spell, regardless of its source, providing the spell can be hit by Runic. If spell can not be hit by Runic, then it is ignored entirely. Once one spell is absorbed, Celes loses this status until she uses Runic again. When Runic absorbs a spell, Celes regains MP equal to the amount of its MP cost. Note that the elemental absorption rules apply here in REVERSE, so absorbing a spell with Runic while you absorb that element resorts in MP DAMAGE, for example. Character Analysis: Celes is, to be blunt, a clone of Terra, of sorts. The only difference those two has is a few stats subtracted In some places, and added in others, their special ability, and their naturally learned spells. Obviously, this means this section is going to be short, as most of what is said about Celes was already mentioned with Terra, so for the most part, it might just be easier to check back at Terra's section and apply any of the non morph/natural magic related aspects to Celes as well, rather than to retype all that junk out. For the most part, I'll be working with what's differences Celes has compared to the other female "Knight" Anyway, Celes' has better physical stats than Terra, period. However, this comes at a cost of 3 points of Magic Power. Odd as it sounds, 3 points of Magic Power is a bigger loss than 3 Points of Vigor, Stamina, 2 points of Defense, and 4 points of Battle Power is combined. This is mostly cause for the most part, those stats have quite a bit less impact on their damage than Magic Power does on its damage. Regardless, the differences in both stats aren't too big, so Celes pretty much can be used in the same vain as Terra. Celes' Special, Runic, is quite possibly the worst in the game. This special is sometimes hyped to be a "life Saver" except that it hardly helps at all. Most of what Runic can cover, Wall Rings cover nicely too, AND they don't hamper your offense by forcing one Character to stay in a defensive stance the entire game, as well as they don't force you to slow down your team for the purposes of timing attacks so Celes never ends up absorbing your owns spells. Runic has use in about 3 boss fights the entire game, and really, that's about it. Its seriously a lackluster skill all things considered. One suprising advantage Celes has is that 2% M. Block over Terra. Normally, it doesn't matter, but it falls in just the right spot, IE she breaks a benchmark, allowing her to use 10% less M. Block to get perfect M. Block. Yeah, this is only if you are paranoid about that 1 out of 255 chance of hitting Terra when she has 127%, but in all seriousness, this is likely Celes' biggest advantage over Terra. Though, it seems Square did make Terra and Celes nigh identical on purpose, if only cause of the structure of the WoB. When you first get Celes, the only time you use her the same time as Terra is the Narshe Battle Sequence…when you split up into 3 parties anyway. Terra leaves, Celes kind of existed to be her replacement of sorts. When Celes leaves, its right before Terra rejoins too. Then the two can be used at the same time for the Floating Continent, then it’s the WoR, where you have Celes for a shortwhile without Terra. Due to this, Celes never really becomes "worthless" except for the FC and once you get Terra back, which is nice points in her favor, as a general agreement is that Celes is Terra-lite (though, that sounds a bit harsh) Mind, considering that besides Morph, Celes does get just about everything that makes Terra nice, she still ends up a really nice character to have. In fact, her only real flaw is existing in the same game as Terra, whose generally better. Still an excellent character, all things considered, as she can use all that nice equipment Terra has, with a good magic stat for some magic damage, as well as being flexible enough to be a fighter if you desire her to be. Strategies for Celes throughout the game: -Don't bother buying any equips for Celes in South Figaro. She comes with a Hairband (and you likely have several Plumed Hats from stealing from Merchants anyway, so getting the next step up isn't an issue), and there's a RegalCutlass, Heavy Shield, and Iron Armor in the basement anyway. Mind, good idea to shove her in the back row so she doesn't die instantly, but still. If you have any "left over" equips before then, wouldn't be a bad idea to give them to her. -Give her the Silk Robe for the Narshe Battle Sequence. Slight defense loss for better Magic Defense and +1 to Magic Power is worth it, especially considering Iron Armor lowers your speed (by a negligible amount) -If you don't have enough Green Beret's for the Narshe battle sequence (this depends on how many Telstars you fought on the Veldt), get a Magus Hat for Celes too. Slight Defense is nothing compared to +5 to Magic Power at the time -Wouldn't be a bad idea to give Celes one or both of those Earrings you got during the Scenario sequence. In fact, one of them is outright found in Locke's scenario, you might as well give her that one. -Celes should be taken to beat Kefka in Narshe. His Ice 2 STINGS like nothing else at the moment, so having Runic there is quite helpful, along with stopping annoyances such as Muddle or Drain. Best paired with someone with high Offense like Sabin or Gau w/ Stray Cat Rage. -Remember to Re-equip Celes after the Opera house sequence, as for some reason, they decide to strip her naked for that sequence. This includes her Esper too, as a reminder -Celes should stick with the White Dress for the Magitek Factory. +5 to Magic Power and higher Magic Defense is a lot more useful than a minor defense boost from the Mithril Mail, especially considering Magic is going to be quite helpful in the next area. -Giving Celes Ramuh for the Magitek Factory can be pretty mean. With a Blizzard/Flame Sabre/Thunder Blade, Magus Hat, and White Dress, along with Two Earrings/Hero Rings, summoning Ramuh is incredibly brutal there, so long as you don't mind the MP cost. The enemies here have considerably worse Magic Defense than physical defense, and most are weak to Lighting to boot. -Try to get a Minerva BEFORE Dullahan, if you don't mind leaving Daryll's Tomb. If Celes has Wall Ring, and a Minerva, and you never attack the guy, he literally can't hurt Celes, at all. You could use this to wait him out so he loses all his MP, and then kill him with a Rasp casting, and not take any damage (well, ok, Celes will be untouched, the other characters I can't say the same for) -When using Celes in the WoR, apply similar strategies to her as you would Terra, unless they involve Morph. Yeah, cheap shot to end this section faster, but I really don't feel its necessary to retype all that junk about Terra for Celes, when its easier to just say that. What about Copy and Paste? Still too much work <_< Celes'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 Set Ups: Due to laziness, just refer to Terra's section for her set ups, they are all pretty much the same. I will state that, however, you can take off 10% from any of those 128% M. Block Set Ups, and Celes will still have perfect M. Block. I suggest taking them off either in the Relic slot (For some more options), Helmet Slot (Red Cap), or the Shield (Aegis over Force Shield, or Tortoise Shield or Aegis Shield, depends on set up) Miscellaneous Info on Celes: -The ONLY piece of equip Celes can't use but Terra can is…THE COTTON ROBE! -Of all the weapons Celes can use, only three of them don't work with Runic. Those are the Flail, the Morning Star, and the Atma Weapon. So yeah, chances are, if Celes has a weapon, she can use Runic. -Celes gets some extra Dialogue if you bring her to Locke's Past sequences in WoB Kolinghen, at the Opera House. Sure, its only one more line, but still. Also gets one more line if she's in your party for when you meet up with Locke. -Saving Cid does NOTHING gameplay wise. Unless you have some moral side of you forcing you to save him, or just like to see that raincoat weirdo whenever you want, its likely easier to just kill the bastard. That, and it adds to Celes' character more, oddly. -Celes is NOT related to Edgar and Sabin in anyway. Sure, the three DO use the same set of palettes, but that's more so a programming quirk than anything else. This is in reference to the line from the woman in Albrook who says "the look in your eyes…looks just like a man who passed by here" or whatever the line is. Some people think Celes is related to those two due to this line, however, she is not. The line simply means that the look of HOPE in Celes' eyes was similar to that of Sabin's, the only other person who was actually trying to find others to rebel against Kefka at the time. The line is a badly written, yes, and no, this serves little purpose in this FAQ, but thought I'd throw that out. -Celes, like Terra, can max out MP using only 3 levels of Crusader, instead of the standard 4, assuming you use Crusader at the right time. Again, only nifty if you want you want a perfected MP score at level 99. -Celes is the first character gotten in the WoR! This means she can get some more Esper time in. Note that at the beginning of the WoR, Celes' level is refactored to be equal to whatever the average of all the characters you have thus far (if Gau is on the Veldt, he doesn't count, for example. Nor does Mog if you missed him in the WoB), so don't think of doing something like "Raise Characters, and ignore Celes, so can abuse the WoR!" As its not going to work. Skillset: Like Terra, Celes has only one special ability that has no set of skills. However, also like Terra, Celes has a bunch of spells she learns simply by leveling up. The list of those spells is as follows: Lv 1: Ice Lv 4: Cure Lv 8: Antdot Lv 13: Imp Lv 18: Scan Lv 22: Safe Lv 26: Ice 2 Lv 32: Haste Lv 32: Muddle Lv 40: Bserk Lv 42: Ice 3 Lv 48: Vanish Lv 52: Haste Lv 72: Pearl Lv 81: Flare Lv 98: Meteor Final Thoughts: Celes is a pretty darn good character, with one annoying thing against her; the existence of Terra. Due to that, you may find yourself not using her often as you could use Terra in the WoR, and she'll likely be just as effective as Celes in all regards, and has Morph as a bonus. Mind, this just means Celes can't be the best character, of course, but she's defiantly up there. Worth raising as she's a very impressive character trained correctly, and in and of herself, there's little wrong with her, besides her suspect special. ======== | SETZER | ======== Stats: Extra HP: 46 Extra MP: 9 Vigor: 36 Speed: 32 Stamina: 32 Magic Power: 29 Battle Power: 18 Defense: 48 Evade: 9% Magic Defense: 26 M. Block: 1% Level Readjustment: +0 Special Ability: Slots/GP Rain Effects: When used, slots will appear. You are prompted to then press A three times row. Depending on timing, a different object will appear. Whatever is in the middle is the object of concern. If the three items match, then an attack based on what that is (for example, 3 Diamonds = 7 Flush) occurs. If they don't match, the attack "Lagomorph" is used. Some attacks are rigged in your favor, others are rigged against you. In some cases, the game flat out doesn't allow you to use certain abilities against some enemies. If Setzer has "Coin Toss" relic equipped, Slots is replaced with GP Rain. GP Rain does damage based on how much gold is thrown. The amount of Gold thrown is users Level * 30. Character Analysis: Setzer is, without a doubt, one of the most underrated characters in FF6. Many people will discount him for having a bad special in Slots, and bad mouth him in other ways like "having weak weapons" and such. All things considered, a lot of this is false. For starters, Setzer's weapons aren't THAT bad, maybe not very special, but saying "they are weak" is discounting things entirely. First off, I'll get this off my chest; NEVER use Dice. That weapon DOES suck. Example? 2 6s (best possible roll and somewhat rare) at level 99 (when things are breaking 8000 consistently) does only 7128 damage. Yeah, pretty bad, all things considered how high that level is. Anyway, Setzer's weapons aren't all total trash. Dart's are pretty strong for a WoB store-bought, and they are long range to boot, granted, they are gotten when Physical damage is at its worst, so its more a "neat fact" than anything else. Besides that, Trump is nifty for instant death early on (good in the Coliseum), and Doom Darts aren't totally bad. Granted, these weapons are still not much, Setzer's TRUE power in weapons comes from Fixed Dice. See, this weapon might be random, but the randomness makes it do, on average, more than most other weapons. And it ignores back row, defense, evade, AND the Offering's damage reduction to boot (Flip side, it ignores Atlas Armlet, pity too) This lets Setzer turn into a good physical damage dealer end game, a bit risky of one, but still a solid one nonetheless. Mind, Fixed Dice are gotten in Kefka's tower, but its within one of the earlier rooms, on a path with no bosses to boot, so you could always do an "early Tower Raid" to get them. Setzer's armor isn't bad by any means. Actually, its…basically a combination of whatever Cyan and Locke can equip, along with adding a few things here and there, with removing the Power Sash, Headband, and Bandana (despite how he comes INNITIALLY equipped with it O_o) from that list. This leads to a rather interesting set of equips. He's one of the only characters who can use Gold Shield AND Gaia Gear (Terra, Celes, and Mog being the other three), for example, in the WoB. Also another person who can use that nifty Force Armor at that. Setzer's equipment might not be the best around, but the armor options aren't bad by any means, they're pretty solid, and by definition (unless you put a lot of emphasis on the Power Sash) better than Cyan and Locke's in the defensive department. So what about Slots? Surely this special sucks, right? I mean, its completely random! Actually, that's false. It might take a bit of time, but you should at least be able to learn the timing for 7 Flush and Chocobop. Both moves, despite being easy to get, are nastier than you'd expect. 7 Flush, for example, is basically a Non Elemental Fire Dance that focuses, making just as good for Crowd Control (nixing elemental concerns) as Fire Dance, and STRONGER than the fabled Aura Bolt against a single foe (elemental concerns aside) This move is often labeled "Weak" mind, and yet, you'll note all the people rave about Fire Dance and Aura Bolt, when this move is equal to or better than both in everyway. Really, to be blunt, these people are more annoyed they can't get the timing down, so from a "random move" its nothing special. If you learn the timing, its quite effective really. Chocobop, meanwhile, is actually a Meteor Clone, with one flaw; can't hit floating units. Beyond that point, its identical to Meteor in everyway; ignores evade, ignores defense, ignores split damage, same spell power, magical, and non elemental. No one seems to call Meteor bad when its hitting multiple targets, now do they :P For the other moves? H-bomb is the only one I'd consider going for. Learning the timing of this isn't hard, though, the game will rarely rig it against you, which can be annoying (Chocobop and 7 Flush the game normally rigs FOR you), however, it doesn't rig it enough to make the move unreliable. Note the timing for this is harder than the other two, but still doable. H-bomb is…well, its basically a level 3 in the WoB, making it incredibly nasty for the time. The other moves are…just too unreliable to work with, since they are more often rigged against you (or in 3 Bars case, too random by its nature) However, you'll note that 7 Flush, Chocobop, and H-bomb are sufficient enough for Setzer in the early parts, and you'll likely not use Slots later in the game anyway. However, do not expect much from GP Rain. For one relic slot, you're basically trading in a nifty skillset for a less than stellar one. You're basically throwing away GP that you could probably put to better use spending on buying Falchions and such for Shadow, and again, it costs a relic slot too. I'd avoid that if I were you, beyond the humor value of killing things with money. All things considered, Setzer is a character who looks unimpressive at first, though, taken some time to learn how to use him, he's fairly good. Sure, I would not go anywhere near as far as to say he's the best character, or heck, wouldn't even say he's top tier, but he's not bad by any means. Learning how to use Slots, and how to make use of his equipment, you'll find he outperforms a lot of characters you wouldn't normally expect (avoiding names for certain lynching purposes) Strategies for Setzer throughout the game: -When Setzer first joins, start teaching him Healing magic. He has enough offense from the get go with Slots, might as well have him able to cover another area -Put Setzer in the back Row. Besides the Gradeus and Man Eater, EVERYTHING Setzer has does the same damage in the back row. There's no reason to put him in the front row, EVER. -Probably best to ignore Setzer's weapons for the most part, as Slots tends to be better almost all the time, and his weapons are just a waste of money (unless you're buying them for throwing purposes. In the WoB, actually, Darts are the strongest Storebought weapon around) -As with most characters who have this option, stick with Gaia Gear for Setzer's armor in the WoB -And as with most male Force Armor users, Setzer should use that as his choice of armor, at least if you have enough available. Chances are, though, you won't be using an Edgar, Cyan, Locke, and Setzer team though (Celes and Terra have a much better "Consolation" option in the Minerva (which is arguably better, but lets not get into that), hence why this is the only team where it really matters THAT much) -Setzer should use the Man Eater once you get it. It'll likely outdamage all his storebought weapons, and be on par with Doom Darts for damage, though, isn't long range, but can hit double damage against humans. The main reason for using this, though, is the +10% M. Block, fits nicely with him using slots. -As soon as you get Fixed Dice, give them to Setzer, and never give him anything else. They are his best weapon by far. It’s a good idea to raid Kefka's tower early for these alone (They are gotten fairly early in the tower, to boot. 3rd room in the first path) -Setzer, like Celes, Sabin and Edgar, has the advantage of being obtained BEFORE the Falchon in the WoR, meaning he can get some quick extra work in. Use that time for him to your advantage. Setzer's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Fixed Dice Man Eater Doom Darts Gradeus Helmets: Bard's Hat Circlet Red Cap Genji Helmet Armor: Genji Armor Force Armor Ideal End game set ups for Setzer: Set Up #1: Fixed Dice Genji Shield Bard's Hat Force Armor Offering Ribbon A typical End Game Setzer Set Up. Fixed Dice + Offering is pretty much a canon combination for Setzer, as its his best means of damage. Force Armor covers some elemental defenses, and M. Block, Genji Shield helps give his physical defense that extra umph he needs. Bard's Hat complements the M. Block. Ribbon was kind of just thrown on there for extra defenses, though replace if it you want too, I just felt it fit for some reason. Note that you can mess around with the defensive gear if you want too, I recommend this here since most are easy to get, and don't hurt other characters, but be my guest to play around. The important part is Fixed Dice + Offering Set Up #2: Man Eater Aegis Shield Bard's Hat Force Armor White Cape White Cape This is Setzer's best defensive set up, nixing Aegis Shield can be swapped for Force Shield, if you prefer (I used Aegis shield as it gives Setzer better physical defense for anything that gets through, leaving him not totally defensless) He has 111% M. Block here, so hiding in the back row, and using Slots or Magic, his goal is to outlast people here. Thing is, I wouldn't exactly Recommend this set up, personally, for a few reasons. For starters, Setzer doesn't have very good damage to fall back on in the WoR, especially in a set up like this, and the M. Block isn't perfect. This…is mostly only useful, I guess, if you are using Setzer and Locke in the same team, and want to give Locke the Offering. Set Up #3: Fixed Dice Tortoise Shield Titanium Imp Armor Offering Any Relic that doesn't protect against Imp Alright, if you want Setzer to be at his best both offensively, and defensivly, and don't give a rats ass about variety, THIS is the set up to use. This optimizes his Defenses to be ALMOST maxed, and gives him a higher Magic Defense score too. Wait, how does it work? Simple, turn Setzer into an Imp, and keep him that way. Now the Imp Equips will grant him his defenses. But wait, there's more! Fixed Dice IGNORE just about everything…including the Imp's penalty. This makes Fixed Dice STILL as useful as ever, so you can not only use an Imp Set Up on Setzer, BUT one that only he can really apply well. This is more a novelty set up than anything else, as you shouldn't need it, but still, a rather effective one at that. Miscellaneous Info on Setzer: -Setzer comes equipped with a Bandana…despite how he can NOT equip this normally. I think Square made a goof here… -You can actually rig slots so to speak. Or rather, unrig the slots that are rigged against you. Basically, use a very specific Combination of moves in a fight, and now slots won't be rigged against you, ever. Yes, this includes JOKER DOOM. Mind, you still have to know the timing, but hey, its nice, innit? I believe the easiest unrigging method is just use an Echo Screen. -A way to cheese out slots is to press Start while they are rolling, and when you finally see the thing you want ABOVE the marker, hold the A button, and unpause the game. Unless the slots are rigged against you, this will pretty much always get you what you want. Skillset: Setzer's slots are all based on what you get. I'll be listing the options in order of difficulty (so first is easy to get, the last is nigh impossible), per se. Lagomorph: Obtained From: Any Failure Effects: Negigible Healing to whole party, recovers from Blind, Poison, and Sleep Comments: Uhh…it’s a failure, you expect them to reward you with something? Yeah, basically, you get what you earned, more or less. 7 Flush: Obtained From: 3 Diamonds Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to all Comments: Rather decent, actually, for one of the easiest Slots to get. Good for ST damage, due to hits high Spell Power, and MT damage isn't too shabby either (Fire Dance level) Should be Setzer's primary Offense in the WoB. Chocobop: Obtained From: 3 Chocobos Effects: Non elemental Magic damage to all Comments: A variation of 7 Flush. This one is centered more around crowd control, having much lower spell power, but ignores defense AND Split Damage. It's basically Meteor, actually, which is rather nice. Its main flaw is that it misses anything that has float status (annoying on the FC), though. Pretty solid move, though, considering how easy it is to get. H-Bomb: Obtained From: 3 Airships Effects: Non Elemental Magic Damage to all Comments: Nasty move, if you can learn its timing. This move is SOMETIMES rigged against you, but more often than not isn't. Can be a bit hard to learn its timing, but it'll pay off in the end. The move is easily one of the most damaging attacks in the WoB, and isn't half bad in the WoR (Though, not stellar) Random Summon: Obtained From: 3 Bars Effects: Summons a random Esper except Odin, whether you have the Esper or not doesn't matter. Comments: This is when getting moves is harder than its worth. This likely isn't that hard, but…it's too unreliable to be worth using. Its only real use is for morphing, actually, as it'll let Gogo Mime Ragnarok's summon over and over again (something he can't do with Magicite item due to how it works), if you want to morph some hard to get items (like the Cursed Ring!) Generally speaking, I wouldn't bother with this beyond novelty. Sun Flare: Obtained From: 3 Dragons Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to all Comments: This is, to be blunt, Setzer using the Bahamut Esper for Free. The attack in and of itself is fine…its just the odds of getting are too low for it be useful. Shame, too, as this move is basically his best Slots for raw damage, and a weaker version of Ultima at that. Joker Doom (Good Version): Obtained From: 3 7s Effects: Kills entire enemy party, regardless if immune to instant death or not (yes, this works even on the final boss) Comments: This is the best Slots, hands down…at least as far as effects go. What's its problem? The chances of getting this are incredibly low, and the game even sometimes doesn’t let you use it in some fights at that. Though, should you be lucky enough to get this, your opposition is gone. This is nice if you are patient enough to dual abuse slot tricks (the Pause + Accept method combined with Derigging slots) Joker Doom (Bad Version): Obtained From: 2 7s and a Bar Effects: Kills both the enemies side and your own Comments: This has the same likely hood to happen as the above…only it’s a good thing too. This being used is a game over, period (unless you have Life 3, maybe), you want to avoid this like the plague. Yeah, basically, this is a NEGATIVE slots. Final Thoughts: Setzer is just one of these characters who doesn't show off much when he first joins, though, with a bit of playing around, and learning how to use him, he can be made effective. Not the greatest character, no, but he's far from deserving the hate he gets from casual players. He's a solid character whose worth a shot, and somewhat fun to play as, though, again, while I am supporting him here, I will restate that Setzer is NOT one of the best characters by a long shot. There are still better options around, Setzer's just a viable one who you shouldn't overlook instantly as a "bad character" ======== | STRAGO | ======== Stats: Extra HP: 35 Extra MP: 13 Vigor: 28 Speed: 25 Stamina: 19 Magic Power: 34 Battle Power: 10 Defense: 33 Evade: 6% Magic Defense: 27 M. Block: 7% Level Readjustment: +2 Special Ability: Lores Effects: Basically, this is the magic skillset, with different spells, and learned in a special way, but otherwise identical (costs MP, affected by Silence, etc.) Anytime Strago witnesses a new Lore (be it used by the enemy, Relm's sketches, or Gau's rages), he will learn it at the end of the battle, so long as he "sees" the attack. Essentially, that means Strago must be in your party and not under one of several status' (Blind, Petrify, Wounded, and Freeze are a few) However, note that if the spell is cast, and THEN he gets hit with the status later in the fight, he will still learn the spell. Character Analysis: Strago, FF6's Blue Mage, one of the most versatile characters in terms of attacks, is likely the case of most wasted potential. At first, he starts off good, make no mistake. Aqua Rake is a nice strong attack he starts off with, and he can grab a few other nifty Lores (such as Pearl Wind) from the get go. However, all things considered, most of what Lores can cover, the Magic Skillset already covers adequately enough, if not better, than Lores. See, Strago's an interesting case. He's likely the one character in the game (besides maybe Gogo) who if there's a challenge (meaning there's some restriction), he pretty much is guaranteed to get better. Well, ok, he's not necessarily "Better", more so just lots of other characters are hit far harder, and Strago manages to keep most of his goodies. Regardless, this more or less shows how Strago's potential is wasted. He does have a rather great skillset, however, thanks to the universal use of Magic, most of it ends up obsolete in the end. Worse, despite being a mage, his magic stat isn't all that stellar. It can be boosted with his equips, to be fair, but even then, there are considerably better choices for a magic damage (the Girls, for starters, pretty much always have better magic) Worse off, Strago is gotten late, so his "esper time" is limited, and unlike, say, Setzer, who mostly doesn't care about Esper time (Damage is independent of Stats), he actually misses that time of Esper usage. As far as equipment goes…Strago's equips are fairly average-ish. He has some nice looking options in his "Suits" as well as having a few good store-bought here and there (Tao Robe, mainly), but nothing that stands out. Even his Ultimate armor, the Behemoth Suit, doesn't have anything that really makes it look that great besides its +6 to all stats (which is better on paper than it is in practice), albeit, its not a trash Ultimate Armor, as its solid enough by its own right, just…out classed by some other options character's have (Minerva, Force Armor, and Snow Muffler, mainly) He does get a rather nifty weapon in the Magus Rod, though. Remember how I said the Enhancer was a kick butt weapon? Magus Rod is better in everyway, as it ALSO grants +7 to magic Power, but 10% more M. Block than the Enhancer, and higher battle power (which is negligible, as Strago's damage is condemned to suck physically, later on) Should be obvious what kind of character Strago is. He's the first character you get who is clearly a dedicated Mage…for all that his physical won't be bad, oddly, due to him having the right weapons at the right time, but that's a different story. His physical stats are the worst in the game, besides Gogo, and he uses all the weakest weapons, and none of them have any special quirks besides random Spell casting, something Spear users and Swordsman get too. This makes Strago's physical be really bad 75% of the time, and decent that 25% of the time when Pearl kicks in. Doesn't save his Physical, but eh, could be useful as a last resort…or not. So what are some of Strago's noteworthy skills? Well, Aqua Rake absolutely rocks when you first get it. It's an improved Level 2 that hits several key weaknesses early on (Hi IAF sequence!) Big Guard casts both Protect and Shell on the ENTIRE time, which is rather nifty. Grand Train is solid damage, and L? Pearl can be a nice weapon in the final dungeon if you go in with your last digit of your GP at 1. Pearl Wind is also solid, though a bit pricey, healing early on (kind of worthless besides healing through reflect late game due to Cure 3, though, at the point of the game where MP doesn't matter) Aero is, for intents and purposes, a non elemental level 3 given how few things actually are immune and/or absorb Wind damage late in FF6. Yeah, these things are useful on paper, but mostly, Magic out classess them in some manner. Granted, its because of these things that make Strago suddenly a contender for MVP (well, that might be strong, but he's up there), in Challenges. For the most part, Strago is a character who looks really good on paper, but in practice, most of what he can get can be done by some other character better. This really hurts his overall use. He starts off rather excellent, but when he rejoins in the WoR, he's pretty much taken a decline to the point where its hard for him to recover. Strategies for Strago throughout the game: -Strago first joins, give have at least one of each elemental rod around. It helps for saving MP in the game. Note that you can get a Thunder Rod as early as the Scenario branches (South Figaro Cave), and to save money, you get a Fire Rod and Ice Rod in the Burning house. Strago hitting weakness with a rod does oddly good damage, and it becomes quite nasty if the random level 2 kicks in…that's assuming he's in the front row anyway. Speaking of which… -For the most part, like you'd guess with a mage, Strago should stay in the back row. Lores are magical, so they ignore row, obviously. Has no reason to be in the front row unless you feel like smacking the enemy with the rods. Note that Strago can equip the Morning Star, should you actually care about a back row Physical… -If you want to optimize Strago's Magic damage, keep the Mithril Rod on him, the +2 to magic power is rather nifty. -Strago should have two Earrings (or better yet, a Hero Ring) on, for the most part. Optimizes his damage, and makes him quite a powerhouse early on. -Strago is possibly one of the only characters who might want to use something over Gaia Gear in the WoB. That being the Tabby Suit. It gives a bit of a boost to Magic Power, though, its got worse Magic Defense, and no Earth resistance (The latter being generally useful only at the moment you get Gaia Gear) What you take is your call. I'd ignore the Chocobo Suit, though, as its just not worth it for Strago. -Try to get as many of Strago's Lores ASAP. I'd list the easiest way to get Lores, but…there's already a nicely written FAQ by Assassin dedicated to that, so I'll just point you to his direction, should you need to see when the earliest you can get some Lores are. I recommend nabbing at least Pearl Wind, the others can wait, for the most part. -When you get Strago in the WoR, try to get the Magus Rod ASAP. You can get this by beating Dirt Dragon, or betting a Heal Rod at the Coliseum. Its Strago's best weapon by far. -Behemoth Suit should be Strago's choice Armor for the most part, though, if you want to tweak out M. Block, the Tao Robe isn't that bad an option. Besides those, there really isn't many other options Strago will want for Armor, in general, late game. -If you want Force Field, make sure Strago is in whatever Team you have to face off against Doom. S/he is the ONLY monster in the ENTIRE game that uses Force Field, so you have one shot at it. -Try to do the Grand Train sidequest ASAP. Getting Grand Train early really helps Strago out tremendously. Strago's Ultimate and other Noteworty Equips: Weapons: Magus Rod Gradeus Helmets: Circlet Bard's Hat Genji Helm Red Cap Armor: Behemoth Suit Tao Robe Ideal End game set ups for Strago: Set Up #1: Magus Rod Thunder Shield Circlet Behemoth Suit Hero Ring Earring Set Up made to optimize Strago's damage. This is all the best magic boosting gear, in general, Strago has so it raises his Magic Damage to their highest potential. Thunder Shield was thrown in cause this set up needs Elemental Defenses, and that's always a nice shield to use if Elemental Defense is something you lack (Covers 4 elements, and has no weaknesses) If you want a bit more defense (and MP at that), go with Bard's hat over Circlet for some M. Block. Set Up #2: Magus Rod Force Shield Bard's Hat Tao Robe White Cape White Cape Strago's overall best defensive set up. This gives him 127% M. Block, and gives him a good magic defense score too, and the Force Shield covers the elemental resists that every set up should at least have SOME of. Magus Rod and Tao Robe still give Magic Power boosts, so his Offense isn't totally shafted either. Decent Set up overall, so long as you have a Force Shield to spare anyway. Set Up #3: Magus Rod Thunder Shield Circlet Behemoth Suit Gem Box Hero Ring Similar to the first set up, if you like Strago using "Magic" more than Lores, DEFTINALY use this set up, unless you have someone else who wants the Gem Box. This is the best possible set up Strago can have (besides equipping a Magus Hat which is moronic, as its 1 Point of magic Power for loss in all other stats) for magic damage, if he's using the Magic Skillset. Thunder Shield, again, is there for the Elemental Resists that a set up like this really wants. Miscellaneous Stuff regarding Strago: -As a Reminder, Strago can STILL learn things if he is dead. Rather, if he's seen the attack while he was alive, and then is killed, he'll still learn the Lore. So don't start getting annoyed when Strago gets killed midway in the fight, if he's seen the Lore, as he'll learn it. -Strago is the ONLY character in the game who is affected by Blind in some manner. Granted, all it means is he can't Learn Lores, which is kind of worthless, but hey, its something! It proves that Blind isn't a TOTALLY useless status afterall…maybe? -Strago has one spell that's cost actually RAISES with the Econimizer…that spell being Reflect ???, which costs initially 0. Econimizer raises it to 1. -Strago can actually get some obscure status' easier than others! With Rippler, he can nab Morph, Interceptor, Rage, among other things if used in odd ball fashions (used on an enemy who just ripplered a different character, in conjunction with Confuse, what have you) Yes, you can see Strago suddenly undergo a sex change and look exactly like Esper Terra. Pity he can't use her equips >_> -Strago can help with stealing! Dischord halves the enemies levels, so using this raises the chances of stealing a bit. Handy for getting annoying things like stocking up on Imp Halberds and such. Skillset: Strago's Lores are all gotten from monsters, besides the initial 3 he starts with (Stone, Revenge, and Aqua Rake) It'd be annoying to go through EVERY enemy and see who uses which Lore, and again, there's already a very well written FAQ dedicated to obtaining Lores written by Assassin, so I'll just point you there to finding the Lores. Condemned: Effects: Adds a Counter to the enemy. When the counter reaches 0, Doom is cast on the enemy, in a form that never fails beyond immunity to the status. Comments: Not particularly useful. By the time the counter hits 0, Doom is likely to have hit by then. Probably better to not bother with this outside of completion purposes. Roulette: Effects: Starts off selecting every target, and prompts the user to press "A" When pressed, the Cursor slows down til it stops on one target. This target is then hit by Doom in the same manner as Condemned's. Comments: Kind of worthless, though, at least it can be used as a theoretical last resort, as it WILL work the turn it's used, unlike Condemned and its delay, so if you are going to die anyway, and the enemy is vulnerable to Instant Death, why not, right? Cleansweep: Effects: Water elemental Magic damage to all enemies Comments: Against a Single Foe, its inferior to Aqua Rake in everyway unless they absorb/null wind. However, it ignores split damage, so its better than Aqua Rake for crowd control. Decent enough, but nothing special. Aqua Rake: Effects: Wind/Water Elemental magic damage to all enemies Comments: This is quite nasty considering its one of Strago's initial Lores, and when you first get, its in a dungeon with Water Weak monsters. It's stronger than a level 2, to boot. Quite a good spell, for when you first get Strago, and it’s a combo of two rarely resisted elements. Aero: Effects: Wind Elemental magic damage to all enemies Comments: This is the only Non Grand Train spell worth using throughout the WoR. Its on par with level 3's for damage, and its element is one that's rarely ever a factor. Solid Spell overall, really. Blow Fish: Effects: Does 1000 damage to one enemy, regardless Comments: Umm…er…this spell would be good if you got it and Strago much earlier. As is, by the time Strago joins, he's breaking 1000 easily enough with Aqua Rake as is. USELESS, except MAYBE in an LLG…maybe… Big Guard: Effects: Adds Safe and Shell status to whole party Comments: The one spell in the entire Lore skillset that isn't matched by anything in magic at all. This is rather nifty, as it set ups a full defensive layer for your team in one casting. Revenge: Effects: Damage damage equal to Strago's Current HP subtracted from his Max HP. Comments: Worthless. This is basically Locke's Valiant Knife with a base damage of 0, and thing is, Strago's almost always got better things to do with his MP than use it on a move that does "good" damage only when he's about to die. Granted, this is one of Strago's initial Lores, not surprising it really isn't worth much. Pearl Wind: Effects: Heals whole party for an amount equal to Strago's current HP. Comments: An interesting healing spell. Never really bad at any point in the game, though, its worthless if Strago has low HP. Eh, probably better to just use Cure 2/3, which will heal a sufficient enough amount at any point of the game, and you won't have to worry about the caster's HP. Probably best quality of this spell is it’s a Healing Spell that ignores Reflect AND Runic. L.5 Doom: Effects: Instant Death to all enemies whose level is a multiple of 5 (5, 10, 15, 20, etc.) Comments: Pretty meh, as there isn't really much worthwhile that can be hit with this. Requires you to use Scan, or to actually look up the enemies level, and its generally easier to just use straight out instant death, or just knock off all their HP. L.4 Flare: Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to all enemies whose level is a multiple of 4 (4, 8, 12, 16, etc.) Comments: Similar to L. 5 Doom, this is too situational for any real use. Its theoretically better than Grand Train for MT damage If all enemies can be hit by this move, but…usually, that's not the case. Easier to just use other damaging Spells to kill enemies. L. 3 Muddle: Effects: Adds Muddle status to all enemies whose level is a multiple of 3 (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, etc.) Comments: Like its brethren, just too situational to really care about. Besides, the existence of Noiseblaster, and the Stray esper hurt this things use as well, since both are also MT Muddle abilities, and both never fail barring immunity. Reflect ???: Effects: Adds Blind, Silence, and Slow to any enemy who has Reflect status. Comments: Well, it’s the only spell in the game that has NO MP COST! There's a reason for that; it sucks complete and utter ass, this move serves pretty much NO purpose whatsoever, as not only is reflect status rare (outside of the Fanatics Tower where you can't even use the darn move), but the enemies also have to be vulnerable to the Status' as well. L. ? Pearl: Effects: Pearl Elemental Magic Damage to all enemies if level is a multiple of whatever the last digit in your GP is (so if your GP is 238497, then it'd be a L. 7 Pear, per se) Comments: The best Level based spell, ONLY because it can be tweaked to hit anything. Good on Kefka's tower if you go in with a L1 Pearl, as NO enemy gives GP that would effect that slot. Beyond that? Its not very reliable. Step Mine: Effects: Does damage equal to Number of Steps/32. MP Cost goes up by one point every 30 minutes. Comments: The MP Cost thing really hurts this move. That, and the damage is very disappointing. End game, its doing, oh I dunno, 3000 at best, when Grand Train is able to hit nearly double that easily enough, and its likely costing less. Only thing you could argue about this move is that its "easily built up" by running around a town senselessly for hours, making it do massive damage early on…but I don't consider that something standard AT ALL. Granted, if you are playing an LLG, this move is GREAT, as its one of the few attacks whose damage is independent of the casters level, letting you do some actual damage late game! Force Field: Effects: Nulls out a totally random element for the rest of the fight on every. This type of "protection" from the element overrides all elemental features (weakness, absorption, what have you) Comments: This move may have had some theoretical use…maybe…if it wasn't gotten so damn late. Since you can only get it from Doom, a point at which only the final boss is left, more or less, the move is thus pretty bad. Dischord: Effects: Halves an enemies level. Comments: The only use this move has is for raising Steal odds. Why? Cause it fails on all the same things Doom does, and that hits more or less just as often, meaning why bother weakening the enemy when you can outright kill them? Yeah, only useful for speeding up the process of stealing by raising their odds. Sour Mouth: Effects: Hits one enemy with Poison, Sleep, Mute, Imp, Confuse, and Blind Status. Comments: Fun spell, however, should be noted that its no more effective than Imp, Sleep, or Muddle hitting an enemy solo, all things considered, as all those status' are brutal by themselves. Eh, decent if you don't want to bother guessing/looking up status resistances. Pep Up: Effects: Heals Target's HP and MP fully, and recovers from most status'. User is then removed from battle, and HP and MP is reduced to 0. Comments: Uhh…this move sucks, as its basically fully restoring someone at the cost of someone else. Not really worth it, as a Remedy + Elixir more or less would do the same thing, and its only an extra turn, for the cost of that person not dying. Avoid this move. Rippler: Effects: Swaps status of user and Target, both positive and negative. Comments: This spell isn't all that useful, but it’s a lot of fun to mess around with. Also the cause of lots of bugs, glitches, and other odd mishaps (none of which are serious) Yeah, don't expect much of this spell, beyond novelty. Stone: Effects: Non Elemental Magic damage to one/multiple enemies. Does 8x damage if enemies level is equal to the casters. Adds Muddle status. Comments: This spell is weak unless you hit enemy whose level is equal to Strago's, which to be blunt, happens almost never. Besides that? It’s a damage spell with below 100% Accurracy, that adds confusion, and its damage isn't anything special either. Easier to just use some other damage moves. To be fair, its one of Strago's starting Lores, so you shouldn't expect much. Quasar: Effects: Non Elemental Magic Damage to all enemies Comments: This spell is like the Lore equivalent of Meteor. What do I mean? Well, look at it this way; Meteor is to Ultima as Quasar is to Grand Train. The spell is not bad by itself, but its completely outclassed in everyway by Grand Train, and since its likely gotten later, you'll probably never use this spell, beyond its nifty animation anyway Grand Train: Effects: Non Elemental Magic Damage to all enemies Comments: Lore's answer to Ultima…only its about half as strong, making it just plain solid instead of totally overpowered. Strago's more source of offense, late in the game, really, best to get this spell ASAP. Does good damage, both for single targets and for groups, and ignores everything that matters too (defense and reflect, mainly) Exploder: Effects: Does damage equal to the users Current HP, the caster dies as a result of this. Comments: Umm…well, seeing as this game isn't Pokemon, the move is likely going to suck, right? Guess what, IT DOES! Strago's Worst Lore, BY FAR. You do more damage with just about all the other damage Lores, and they don't have this huge downside. At least Pep Up had a nifty effect with its sacrifice, Exploder doesn't even grant THAT much. I guess its good if you like watching old men go BOOM! Final Thoughts: Strago's got a lot of variety…on paper at least. Problem is, most of what Strago can do, again, is covered by Magic Skillset, and despite who he is, he's not stellar in that regard, as others can be made equally as good, or better, Mage's for the Magic skillset. Lores have a few decent moves that are good regardless of Magic or not, but for the most part, are just for show. Sadly, Strago isn't a very useful character in the end, as he's easily replaceable. Granted, as soon as you start putting some restrictions on the game (for Challenge purposes), don't be surprised if Strago all of a sudden gets a huge spike in usefulness, even if its for the oddest reasons at that. ====== | RELM | ====== Stats: Extra HP: 37 Extra MP: 18 Vigor: 26 Speed: 34 Stamina: 22 Magic Power: 44 Battle Power: 11 Defense: 35 Evade: 13% Magic Defense: 30 M. Block: 9% Level Readjustment: +0 Special Ability: Sketch/Conrtol Effects: Relm will make a "copy" of the enemy, and then one of two commands will be used. These commands vary depending on enemy, and aren't always the most sensible either (Example: Ice Dragon's sketch can yield Fire 3) Relm's chance of success is based on her level compared to the enemies (if her level > the enemies level, then she will never fail). Equipping a Beret increases chances by about 33%. Not all enemies can be sketched. If FakeMustache is equipped, then Sketch becomes Control. Control uses same chances of success for Sketch, and chances can be increased by equipping a Coronet. When Relm uses Control on an enemy, Relm forfeits all her turns for the enemies. When an enemies turn is prompted, one of up to 4 actions can be used. Control is broken when either the controller dies, or the one affected by the status is hit with a physical attack. What attacks can be used from a controlled enemy vary from enemy to enemy, and are the same as those the enemy can use in the Coliseum or under Confusion status. Not all enemies can be controlled. Character Analysis: Relm, believe it or not, is somewhat of Strago's complete opposite. Yes, their equips are almost identical, and they're both used as mages. However, that's kind of where the similarities end. See, while Strago cried about how Magic Skillset kicked ass, Relm adores it. This is part to her having good equips, combined with the best Magic Power score by a good deal (5 points above Terra…) However, she has no special abilities worth noting, so she is somewhat completely reliant on Magic to be worth something, hence why in most challenges she takes quite a hit (meanwhile, Strago was annoyed at how Magic outclassed Lores, so when Magic is removed from the picture, he takes quite a jump) Relm is easily the most underrated character in FF6. You'll find very few people who actually give her credit, but most will deem her as "Bad" instantly, usually for reasons like "Sketch Sucks!" and such. Yes, Relm's special is bad, quite possibly the worst in the game (its up there with Runic, that's for sure), unlike Setzer where its just a case of people not knowing how to use it, Relm's special ability is outright trashy. The Alternative, Control, isn't much better. Yes, most random encounters are NOT immune to it, and a Coronet raises the chances to nearly 100%, however, note that Control does not undo counters, and its stopping one enemy for the cost of an ally, and that enemy can't be hit with physicals either. Worse, most abilities you can use through Control or Sketch, even the good ones, just aren't as good a damage as you'd expect (Example is Kefka's Ultima from Sketch does less than 3000 damage) End result? You have one really bad skill innately, and another slightly better skill that requires a whole relic slot to use, making it arguably worse. Its easy to see how people can get a first impression about Relm sucking ass. However, Relm DOES have redeeming qualities. As mentioned before, she has the game's best Magic Power. Unlike Vigor, high Magic Power is somewhat noticeable, so this means Relm can do considerably more damage with the Magic skillset than any other character besides of course Morphed Terra. Better yet, Relm's equipment tends to give good Magic Power boosts, so her high magic power is inflated further, making her damage that much better. Taken time to teach Relm spells, she can be made into a solid party member, really. Granted, when she first joins, she's somewhat useless knowing no spells, though, giving her a Fire/Ice/Thunder Rod will let her do good damage…25% of the time…in the front row. Mind, a fun fact is in the WoB, Relm's physical with an Ice Rod does more than Locke's damage, on average, with a Hawk Eye (the damage boost against Flying enemies 50% of the time is cancelled out by the ability to hit weakness 100% of the time), which is just funny as Locke is a Fighter, while Relm is a Mage (flip side: Locke's damage can be done in the Back Row, Relm's must be in the front) Beyond that? Relm needs to be trained from the get go to be made good. Without Magic, she struggles to be worthwhile, really (especially since Strago can use all her (worthwhile) Weapons, so if you're using Relm's physical, you might as well use Strago's, who has similar damage, AND all his Lores. See why Relm hates challenges?) Speaking of Relm's weapons, that segues nicely into her equipment…well, maybe not, but shut up. Well, considering she could use all of Strago's equipment, and his stuff was average-ish, that must mean Relm's equipment is above average, right? Logic dictated correctly here. Relm can, as I said, use all of Strago's equips; Animal suits, rods, robes, what have you. However, she also can use a few things Strago can not use, namely Female Specifics, and a few unique things. Sure, some of the stuff is just useless padding, such as the Brushes and their utter scrubbiness (lower attack power than Rod's in general, and no real special points besides some MINOR stat boosts, and humor value of smacking an enemy with a Brush), though a few stand out. The White Dress is a nice WoB equip for turning Relm into an especially big powerhouse, if you don't mind some defensive losses from not using Tabby Suit or Gaia Gear. Also she can use the Mystery Veil, which is the flat out best helmet in the WoB, and would be one of the best in the WoR…if she didn't get something better. Yes, remember my raving about the Mystery Veil for Terra and Celes? It looks somewhat tame to one of Relm's options, that being the Cat Hood. That Cat Hood grants high defensive boosts for a helmet (2nd overall only to the Genji Helmet), along with giving Circlet like stat boosts (Well +4 to Magic Power and +2 to Speed, no Vigor and Stamina boosts…mind, Relm is a mage, so Vigor = moot, and Stamina is just laughable as always), and 10% M. Block (the only reason Bard's hat is actually considered for end game set ups is for that 10% M. Block alone) That's not all, though, as it also halves every element but Poison and Water, and as an added bonus, it doubles the GP you get from battles (which is more a time saver than anything useful, but hey) This is easily the best helmet in the game, by far, and only Relm can use it. Should you want to use Relm, make sure you get this. Beyond that, Relm's equips are more or less the same as Strago's (mind, female Equips and Cat Hood make all the difference), so treat them accordingly. Yes, there are a few OTHER things she can use that Strago can't, but they are pretty much worthless (like the Czarina Gown!) One of the nice things about Relm is she the ONLY Character in the game who doesn't use a sword and can hit 128% M. Block without the Merit Award. This makes her a decent consideration should you want another 128% M. Block character for areas like, say, Kefka's Tower where you need multiple teams. Granted, it does limit her offense a bit (mostly cause she can't use things like Earrings or Gem Box), but hey, at least she's nigh unkillable. All in all, Relm is a character that at first glance, will seem pretty bad, but once you learn how to use her, and actually put a bit of effort into raising her (IE teach her some worthwhile spells like Level 2s or Bio early on), she can be quite a nice addition. Her equipment options are always decent throughout the game (though, nothing outright stellar until the Cat Hood), and her game best Magic Power makes her a good damage dealer no matter what point of the she's in, so long as you actually bother to give her some spells. To be blunt, Relm takes a bit of work to make worthwhile, but after that part, she's a pretty decent character in general. Strategies for Relm throughout the game: -When Relm first joins, give her an elemental Rod (doesn't matter which one, as long as its not Poison) Since she knows no magic at the time, she has no use for the Mithril Rod, and the average damage from an Elemental Rod is considerably better than her damage from the Morning Star. -Never bother with Sketch, except in a very select few cases, after the fight with Ultros. Its just not worth it, trust me. -Relm should start off learning some level 2's before anything else. If you want to get a decent spell on her fastest, Shoat, with its x8 to Bio is the way to go, though, note that Bio is of a rather subpar element, and its damage is worse than the Level 2's. If you want fastest "Net Gain", go with Maduin (fastest means of learning all 3 Level 2's), but if you just want a level 2 ASAP, not caring about how many, or which ones, go with Ifrit or Shiva (preferably Shiva, as she'll teach Osmose and Rasp with a few more fights after she teaches Ice 2. That, and Ice 2 is negligibly Stronger!), both giving x5 to their respective spells. Try to get Relm all 3 level 2's, though, before you get to the FC, should you plan on using her then. -Or if you prefer, you could teach her the level 2's on the way TO the FC, and in the IAF sequence, give Relm a Genji Glove, Hero Ring, and two Thunder Rods, and watch her smite. You'd be surprised what a little 10 year old girl built to be a mage can do with that combo when smacking an elemental weakness when using a physical attack. -Relm has a few Armor options for the WoB. Helmet is obviously Mystery Veil, as that flat out kicks every other options ass, but armor is a bit different. Tabby Suit is best balance between Defenses and stat boosts, Gaia Gear gives best defensive boosts, while White Dress is likely most useful if you want offenses. So…its between higher defenses (and earth absorption), higher offenses, or a balance of both. -Ignore the Czarina Gown in the WoR. Yes, you'd expect the armor to be good, what with it being an Armor that only RELM can use, it must be special, right? Truth be told, the Tao Robe, obtainable at the same time (both are basically restricted to when you get Relm, as both are gotten, potentially, before), is likely overall more useful. All things considered, Czarina Gown's BEST use is to turn into a Minerva for the adult women to use. -Never give Relm a Brush. They, for the most part, are just for show, and a Rod is better pretty much always. -Attempt to get a Cat Hood for Relm ASAP. It's not hard, just need to nab an Imp Halberd (easiest to get by stealing from Mantodea's, just kill off all enemies, except them, then cast Vanish on your stealer(s)) This will make the consideration of using Relm a bit more serious -Grab a 2nd Magus Rod ASAP, that way, you won't have to fear problems about using Relm w/ Strago or Gogo. Only method of getting more than one Magus Rod is by betting Heal Rods (which are useless anyway) at the Coliseum (the first Magus Rod is gotten from Dirt Dragon) -Don't bother with the Gradeus. Yes, its Relm's strongest weapon…but on average, Pearl Rod out damages, and if against a "Human", Man Eater is flat out better. All its good for is making Relm's Battle Power look almost decent… -Also should try to nab a 2nd Behemoth Suit, so Relm and Strago don't have to fight over it. Until you get that 2nd Behemoth Suit, use either a Nutkin Suit (at that point, its likely easiest to obtain in the Coliseum), or Tao Robe. -Be sure to keep Relm's magic up to date. Don't think her high Magic Power is going to save Level 2's throughout the whole WoR, as those will eventually teeter off. Make sure to at least give her one high end spell (Pearl, level 3's, or Flare comes to mind. Meteor for some MT damage if you gave her Pearl or Flare only) -Relm, like the moogle and other girls, can get max MP (999) by using only 3 of the required levels with Crusader, instead of 4, like most characters. Relm's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Magus Rod Gradeus Helmets: Cat Hood Armor: Behemoth Suit Tao Robe Ideal End game set ups: Set Up #1: Magus Rod Genji Shield Cat Hood Behemoth Suit Gem Box Earrings This set up, obviously, turns Relm into a magical power house. Gem Box lets her cast two high powered spells at once (instead of just one), and her equipment all augments her magic damage in some way. Genji Shield thrown in for the extra defense, as she has enough Elemental resists as is, thought she could use a bit more defense. Set Up #2: Magus Rod Force Shield Cat Hood Tao Robe White Cape White Cape This set up is Relm's 128% M. Block set up, which has obvious use. Nice quirk about this 128% M. Block set up is it also resists 7 of the 8 elements, the only element not resists is Poison, where all attacks from it are blockable anyway. Use this if you wish to play it safe, obviously. Miscellaneous Info on Relm: -Sketch Bug. This is a very famous thing regarding Relm. Basically, whenever she fails a sketch, or does an illegal one, sometimes the game glitches. There's been extensive testing to see when exactly the bug happens, and when it doesn't, and unfortunately, I don't know the exact odds on this. However, note that the glitch can cause anything from getting lots of random items (Good thing!), to some graphics glitching (annoying, but nothing serious) to screwing up your file completely (bad) Due to this risk, its another reason to just avoid using Sketch entirely. -If you did NOT save Shadow, remember that you must go to the Veldt Cave BEFORE doing Owser's house in the WoR, to get Relm. -Also remember Relm is needed to start the Hidon Side quest. I believe you don't actually need to bring her to the dungeon itself, but unsure on this, she is required to actually start it, however. -If you did not get Shadow, Relm will have her own dream in his place, proving further an already obvious aspect (not saying what that is, since it’s a spoiler, and by now, you should already know <_<) Skillsets: Since Relm's skill set is based off the enemy she's fighting, I'm not going to bother saying much here. Should you wish to see what enemies can do with Control or Sketch, check the "Monster Statistics Guide" as it explains fully, and coherently, what each monster has. Final Thoughts: Relm at first glance won't seem like much at all, but she's defiantly not an outright bad character. With some effort, and a bit of raising, Relm can be made effective enough. She really likes how the FF6 Magic skillset is strong, as it makes her High Magic Power actually worth something. Granted, the instant a Challenge is brought up, there's a good chance Relm will sink to rock bottom. Regardless, don't give up on Relm instantly, as actually putting some effort into her, she'll end up a fine character, albeit, do not expect something outright stellar. ======= | UMARO | ======= Stats: Extra HP: 60 Extra MP: 0 Vigor: 57 Speed: 33 Stamina: 46 Magic Power: 37 Battle Power: 47 Defense: 89 Evade: 8% Magic Defense: 68 M. Block: 5% Level Readjustment: +2 Special Ability: "Rage" Effects: When Umaro is in battle, you lose all control over him ala Rage or Dance. He will then only use Fight or "Tackle" commands. If he has the Rage Ring equipped, then "Character Toss" may sometimes be used, providing he actually has allies. If he has a Blizzard Orb equipped, he will randomly use "Storm" at times. Character Analysis: I know you're all waiting for me to do this setting. I know you're probably saying, "how can you make UMARO look good?" or something along those lines. And, well, I'll be blunt, I WON'T TRY. Umaro is hands down the worst character in FF6. Basically, take the FF5 Beserker, and make him have a forced Weapon and Armor, and let him do some other moves, based on equips. And the thing is, Umaro just doesn't get better ever. He's gotten late, and the only way to make him "better" is to level him up, something you could be doing with another character and get more out of them. So what does Umaro actually have? Well, he has high base stats, and when he joins, he's already got pretty much everything he's going to have, meaning he requires no extra training or equipment (besides Blizzard Orb. You will likely have the Rage Ring by then) beyond leveling up, so I guess he's the character who needs the least training. Also nulls out the big 3 elements without much difficulty, which…is worth something, I guess. Also, due to starting with a Snow Muffler, he comes in with some pretty obscene defense, and it can't ever get possibly worse. Tackle and Character Toss aren't that bad on damage either, the latter is also quite comical. That, and Umaro is a character who can make use of the Gauntlet with no downsides. And he's a decent choice in the Fanatics Tower as none of the enemies there have any real defense against his moves. Beyond that? Umaro has nothing. Everyone else can outdamage him quite easily, most characters can gain better defensive set ups, and they can use Espers and have variety, not to mention aren't permanently uncontrollable. All in all, Umaro is a bad character. He's basically Gau with locked on equips, better stats, and forced into one Rage that isn't very stellar. Yes, that's basically saying "He's Gau with better stats, and none of the other stuff that makes Gau good" I suggest you stay away from Umaro. He's really not a useful character at all. Due to Umaro lacking any equips beyond Relics, and any variety of any kind, I won't bother with a Strategies, Equipment, Ideal Set Ups, or Miscellaneous section for him, as there's really not much to say. So…I'll skip to the final thoughts! Final Thoughts: Umaro is a bad character, its really hard to justify him otherwise. In challenges, he's not quite as bad, but he's hardly much better. His main selling point, sadly, is that he's a 4th character to bring to the Fanatics Tower in an NMG. Yeah, unless you like watching characters getting tossed randomly, I suggest you not bother with the Yeti. Can't we all shed tears for the big smelly one? ====== | GOGO | ====== Note: For simplicity purposes, despite how its never actually been officially stated who/what Gogo is, I'll just refer to Gogo with male pronouns. So don't start e-mailing me about "Gogo isn't necessarily male!" as its just easier to do it this way than to say "s/he/it" everytime. Stats: Extra HP: 36 Extra MP: 12 Vigor: 25 Speed: 30 Stamina: 20 Magic Power: 26 Battle Power: 13 Defense: 35 Evade: 10 Magic Defense: 25 M. Block: 6 Level Readjustment: +2 Special Ability: Mimic Effects: Gogo will use the same action as the one used by the character immediately before him. Should the action either be one that can't be mimicked (Morph for example), or no action has been used yet, Gogo will default to using "Fight" Other: Gogo can use any skillset of any other character in FF6, with the exception of Morph, Leap, Shock, Health, Magitek, and Possess (note that Health = Cure 2, Shock can be used via Retainer Rage, and Magitek can be used if Gogo has "Fight" and is in the Magitek Armor section of Cyan's Soul) Gogo's skillsets with these are based off of the skillset of the "home" character (IE Gogo will know only Blitzes that Sabin already knows), Magic command is based off whatever Magic the current party has (IE if your team is Gogo, Terra, Gau, and Sabin, Gogo will be able to use any spell that any of those characters know) Gogo can only use skill sets of characters that you have been "properly introduced too" (IE seen their Naming Screen) If Shadow was not rescued on the Floating Continent, Gogo can not use Throw. For moves like Jump, X- Magic, Control, Capture, and GP Rain, Gogo must equip the proper Relic, and have the proper skillset equipped, to use those abilities (for example, if Gogo wants Capture, he needs to equip the Thief Glove AND have the "Steal" skill on) Character Analysis: Gogo is more or less the polar opposite of Umaro, in terms of his set up. He has all the variety in the world, and yet, his stats are just, for lack of a better word, aweful. Easily the worst overall stats of any of the final 14 in FF6. These two aspects end up balancing out completely, more or less, leading to make Gogo a useful, though overall average character. Gogo tends to be the "I can do everything, but not as good as the original" character, though, sometimes, he does it the job well enough that you don't care about him being technically inferior. To be blunt, you use Gogo when you want several abilities, but can't decide which you want for that 4th slot, and feel confident enough that the lackluster equipment and stats won't be that big a hinerance. Want tools? You got it. Want another Bum Rush user? He can do that. Need more universal elemental and status protection from Magic Urn? He can use Rage's like Gau as well. Essentially, Gau is basically just grabbing everyone else's special (besides Terra's), and putting them on who would otherwise be a really bad character. This versatility makes Gogo a passable character, though, not a stellar one. Because you can outright change Gogo's commands on a whim, this makes him an ideal Coliseum character. One often used strategy is to make a totally defensive set up that the enemy can't break through, and give Gogo nothing but "Fight" in all his slots, letting him win the battle without any chance of loss. That's probably Gogo's selling point is that he's a safe character to use in the Coliseum, though, he might require a merit award for taking down some opponents. How are his equips you might ask? Basically, take anything Strago can use, add on the "Gear" class equips, and remove the Animal Suits…yeah, obviously, it’s a losing trade. Yes, this means Gogo's BEST armor is the storebought Tao Robe, which has laughable defense and magic defense (For an ultimate armor), though, it does raise M. Block by 10% and magic power by 5, so its not TOTAL trash, just the worst Ultimate armor in the game. Gogo's weapons aren't too bad, I guess, as when he joins, you can get a Magus Rod for him pretty much instantly, which helps make up for his low Magic Power, and gives him +30% M. Block to boot. All in all, Gogo's equips are some of the worst in the game, though, calling it the worst is a tough call (Magus Rod really helps him out there, and he gets an easy to obtain M. Block Armor), with some other characters having bad options themselves. All in all, one should never be reliant on Gogo for…well, anything. He's not a fall back character, per se. He's good for fulfilling secondary duties, whatever that maybe, and helps in team split situations when you really want a certain skill for both teams, he'll help make decisions easier. Not exactly a great character, though, not a bad one really either. Can be made somewhat useful. Strategies for Gogo throughout the game: -When you get Gogo, buy a Tao Robe for him, and then make sure he always has it on. That's his best armor, sadly. -Gogo should be using the Magus Rod if you have one available, UNLESS he's using Sword Techs (yes, oddly, the Magus Rod works with Runic) If you're using Swordtech, then find whatever weapon gives him the best stat boosts that he can with Swordtechs, and use that (since Swordtechs ignore Battle Power, stat boosts are all that matter) -Like most characters, Gogo should be in the back row, especially since he should never be using his fight command, ever. -What skillsets to give Gogo? Well, Magic is good if the current team has a good selection spells, Blitz and Throw are always solid for damage options. Lore is nice for some variety, and good if the magic selection in the team isn't much. Other abilities have some uses here and there, but for the most part, those are likely the most useful. Gogo's Ultimate and Noteworthy Equips: Weapons: Magus Rod Gradeus Helmets: Circlet Genji Helmet Bard's Hat Red Cap Armor: Tao Robe Ideal End game Set ups: Set Up #1: Magus Rod Force Shield Bard's Hat Tao Robe White Cape White Cape Gogo's defensive set up. Simply put, Gogo has 126% M. Block here, being near unhittable. Magus Rod and Tao Robe give decent boosts to magic, so he can use stuff like Bum Rush in this set up for good damage. Set Up #2: Magus Rod Thunder Shield Circlet Tao Robe Hero Ring Earrings Gogo's offensive set up. Basically, his physicals are going to suck anyway, this set up weighs him down with all the best magic boosting equips, so Gogo can go Bum Rushing the enemy, or casting Grand Train, or whatever on them, for good damage. Thunder Shield chosen for the fact that Gogo wants Elemental Defense in this set up, though, you might want more physical defense, so at times, Genji Shield or Aegis Shield might be better ideas. Miscellaneous info on Gogo: -If you want to use Gogo in the Fanatics Tower, give him the FIGHT Command, NOT Magic. See, the game erases the magic command, actually, and then replaces the Fight command with Magic. Weird? Yes, but just take my word for it. Should be noted that Gogo can still use Mimic in the Fanatics Tower, so he's not totally unusable if you forget this. Item stays, however, as a reminder -Gogo is your only means of summoning Espers over and over again in a battle consistently! Good for metamorphing, I guess. Note that this works with the actual Esper Summon, or the "Random Summon" slots (3 Bars) This does NOT work with Magicite, so to speak. While in "Random Summon" slots, he'll mimic whatever Esper was used, in the case of the Magicite item, Gogo is mimicking the ITEM being used, not the attack, so he'll just summon a totally random Esper (be it the same or not, is a different story, chances are against you however) -Gogo can mimic X-magic! To do this, have someone use "X-magic" then have Gogo use "Mimic" immediately after. Gogo will then cast those same two spells in a row…for free! Closest thing you'll get to 2 Gem Boxes, besides the "Quick" spell anyway. -Unfortunately, this does not work with X-fight. If Gogo Mimics X- fight, he'll use a regular physical, with whatever weapon he has. Oh well. That is unless Gogo is mimicking himself using X-fight… -Same applies to Multi hit Jumps. If Gogo mimics someone using Jump, he will use Jump himself, yes. However, he won't use the "Multi Hit" part UNLESS he himself has a Dragon Horn equipped. So yeah, no cheap shots in getting 2 Dragon Horns for the price of one relic slot (mind, you still save a Relic Slot on Dragoon Boots :) ) Final Thoughts: Gogo is, well, a character who balances everything he has with something bad, and vice versa. Not what I'd call the "definition of average" though, he's pretty much smack in the middle for overall use. Amazing Versatility like no one else, with no stats (which are static to boot from no potential Esper usage), and bad equips to offset this, Gogo is your guy you choose for whatever 2ndary jobs need fulfilling. And not surprisingly, like Strago, Gogo gets a nice boost in usefulness in most challenges, where he's basically Strago with Bum Rush <_<. And so ends the full character analysis for all the Non Gau characters in FF6! Now for all the random junk that just didn't fit into this part of the FAQ in the next sections! ------------------------------ 5. Character Growth Strategies ------------------------------ This section will help discuss how to raise characters, in terms of Espers, and such. Pretty self explanatory there. Anyway, first off, an ideal method of raising a character is to choose one stat to boost, and keep at it. Should that stat hit 128, then go to a different stat, as that stat is now maxed. By "one stat" I mean between Vigor or Magic Power, as those ones boost damage. Speed is from one Esper, and grows too slowly, you'd be better off going for the offensive stats first (That, and having the speed boosting Esper means no Quick spell, by definition) Now, what stat to raise between those two is dependant on character. That's what this section is about! I'll get to that later though, first some things to clear up. Note: Gogo and Umaro are excluded from this for obvious reasons, that being they can't use Espers at all. While I did neglect Gau in the FAQ, I'll make sure to mention him here, since this part of him is rather simple :) First off, every character in FF6 at level 99 have at least 9783 HP and 966 MP, so if you plan on getting to level 99, ignore the HP and MP level ups. However, if you are a perfectionist, and want to make sure your characters have perfect 9s, well, then you should know when exactly to use those level ups. The Earlier you use the HP Boosting, the worse, as HP boosts are pretty lackluster until after level 40 (where HP growth spikes somewhat) MP Growth…is kind of grows steadily til level 50, then starts getting worse. The highest HP levels are 69, 70, and 71 (meaning when you level up TIL those levels), so when your character hits level 68, equip Bahamut (HP +50%, the highest boost), and have it on til the character is level 71, then take it off. This applies for every character. For MP, it’s a bit different. The highest MP levels are level 48 thru 50, same vain as in HP, per se. However, note that these 3 levels will ONLY be sufficient for Terra, Celes, Relm, and Mog to get 999 MP. Everyone else will need at least one more level of MP, best use it with some other consecutive level, to be safe. To make things even more complicated, Cyan and Sabin will need yet ANOTHER Additional level to get that perfect 999 MP, so have the esper on then too. Wait, what Esper? That would be Crusader (MP +50%, highest MP Boost), of course. Beyond that? I would ignore HP and MP boosts when possible, as they just aren't worth it. Next, ignore Stamina. It's generally a worthless stat. Yeah, it'll be odd that there's one low stat compared to all the others, but trust me, Stamina raising is not worth it. Now, if you wish to keep Odin, after you've maxed out Vigor or Magic Power, I suggest you put the rest of your stats in Speed. You shouldn't need 2 high offensive stats, might as well raise speed, no? Mind, this is assuming you're getting to level 99. if you are not getting to level 99, just raise one stat, generally, when possible. What Espers boost what stats you say? Here's a list of the following Espers and their stat boosts (only listing Espers with stat boosts): Siren: HP +10% Shoat: HP +10% Terrato: HP +30% Bahamut: HP +50% Phantom: MP +10% Fenrir: MP +30% Crusader: MP +50% Ifrit: Vigor +1 (note that it says Strenght, it means Vigor, this applies for all appropriate Espers) Bismark: Vigor +2 Raiden: Vigor +2 Ramuh: Stamina +1 Golem: Stamina +2 Starlet: Stamina +2 Odin: Speed +1 Maduin: Magic Power +1 Stray: Magic Power +1 Zoneseek: Magic Power +2 Tritoch: Magic Power +2 Yeah, obviously, you want to gain levels with Tritoch or Zoneseek (For Magic Power), Odin (for speed), or Bismark and Raiden (Vigor) Should any of those not be available, go for another stat, or use one of the +1 to said stat Espers to compensate. Granted, that should only occur if 2 characters are working on the same stat and about to level up. Now, with all THAT junk out of the way…how to raise characters? Note that I'm assuming all speed boosting comes AFTER the stat I'm mentioning is raised, and that HP/MP is being raised at levels mentioned above (if then). So yeah, I likely won't be mentioning speed boosts due to this. Terra: Vigor or Magic Power, its your choice. She's a fine fighter and a good mage, so it depends on what you want from her. Just be sure to stick to whatever you start raising her as. Locke: Vigor. He's all about his good weapon selection, and his magic power isn't much, so instead of trying to compensate for one low stat, why not focus on making the most of what he's already good at, right? Mog: Vigor. Yeah, at first, Magic Power might seem the right way to go, with his dances being magical, but remember, late game, he's likely being a Dragoon, so make the most of his physicals with Vigor. Note that if you're going to be level 99, it MIGHT be better to go for Magic Power, as Jump WILL always hit 9999, providing high defense monsters don't rear their ugly head. Edgar: Vigor. Similar reasons to Mog, though, more importantly, most of Edgar's tools are physical. Even if you plan on getting to level 99, its best to go for Vigor, if only cause Auto Crossbow then becomes a free 9999 to all enemies. Sabin: Magic Power. Yeah, I know, he's the big bad ass monk of FF6, and has game best Vigor, but frankly, Vigor means little when most of your skillset is magical. Best raise his Magic Power to beef up the lion share of his skillset, even though it doesn't seem to fit, but hey, if its between "what feels right" and "what's more effective", I think the answer should be obvious (if that doesn't give it away, the answer is the latter, which is magic power) Shadow: Vigor or Magic Power. Most of his throws are physical, yes, but they do enough damage as is, so you could either work on making them stronger, or try to make the Skeans worth something. Note that if you plan on getting to level 99, defiantly go with Magic Power, as Shurikens will do VERY CLOSE to 9999 at level 99. Cyan: Vigor. Yeah, a few of his Sword Techs are magical, as is Wind Slash, though, the Sword Techs that are worth something (Dispatch and the Quadras) are physical, and the Quadras get an especially large boost from Vigor do to how they work. If you really want to make Windslash from the Tempest stronger, raise Magic Power, though that's generally the only reason to raise Magic Power for Cyan (Retort, Stunner, and Empowerer just aren't worth it) Gau: Both. No, not "either or", I said both. Gau doesn't really need speed, since he's not limited by human reactions like everyone else is, so he can deal with lower speed. Thus, raising Magic Power increases the power of most of his good rages, Vigor increases the weak physical he's forced to use in all of them, and Cat Scratch in the infamous Stray Cat Rage. Magic Power also helps out Wind God Gau, if you didn't know either. Celes: See Terra, more or less, its easier than retyping that whole thing out. Personally, I'd raise Celes however you are NOT raising Terra (or raise Terra however you are not raising Celes, if you want to view it THAT way) This way, you can make the two characters at least somewhat different instead of making two very similar characters more similar… Setzer: Magic Power. Alright, yes, he primarily fights physically late game…except that his Fixed Dice totally ignores any logical physical equation except for Multipliers, meaning raising Vigor does nothing, might as well increase his damage from slots, no? Strago: Magic Power. Every single one of his Lores are magical, and weapons suck ass…this should be an obvious selection here. Relm: Magic Power. See Strago, only instead of "Lores being magical", replace that part with "you’d be insane to raise Relm as a fighter" And there, now you should have no problems deciding how to raise your characters…well, ok, a few characters can be raised either or, but for that…uhh…flip a coin. The coin is all knowing, and never lies, DO NOT QUESTION THE COIN! ----------------------------- 6. Character Team Suggestions ----------------------------- Look for this in a later update. Just putting this section here for now so people know what to look forward to in the future. If its not obvious, this is for what characters to use at different points in the game, which will require some thought (maybe?), so…yeah, keep a look out for this. ---------------------- 7. Equipment Locations ---------------------- This section tells you where to get equips I listed in this FAQ. I might miss a few since I'm mostly speaking from memory, so contact me if such happens <_< I'm leaving out silly trades that grant you something far inferior, like trading the Illumina -> Scimitar or Paladin Shld -> Force Shld at the Coliseum (well, ok, the latter has some theoretical use, maybe?) Also ignoring Metamorph cause frankly, that tends to be the most annoying way to get items, and it really isn't any easier than the methods I'm listing below due to its nature. Weapons: Illumina: After getting Locke back in the WoR, go to Narshe's Weapon Shop, and talk to the guy there. Choose to make the Stone he has into a Sword (which is Ragnarok), and then bet that at the Coliseum. Your reward will be Illumina. Enhancer: Store bought in Nikeah and South Figaro in the WoR Atma Weapon: Found in the Sealed Cave in the WoB. There's a switch you must press somewhere in the second half of the dungeon, which opens a little room with 4 chests, Atma Weapon is in there. Normally, I wouldn't go into THIS much detail, but it seems lots of people somehow miss this item, and its permanently missable too. You can get a second by stealing from Girl(?) on Tier 3 of the final battle, but that's not worth it given how late it is. ValiantKnife: Receive this automatically when Locke returns in the WoR. Note that, from what I understand, in the Japanese version, you get 2 Valiant Knives due to some bad coding. Wing Edge: Found in chests in both Phoenix Cave and the Cave to the Ancient Castle. Pearl Lance: Win won after beating White Dragon in the Fanatics Tower. You can get more by betting the Strato at the Coliseum. If you're curious, Strato can be gotten by betting the Tempest, Murasame or the Aura, and continually betting what you win there (I advise against Tempest though), as well as gotten by beating Red Dragon in the Phoenix Cave. Aura Lance: Gotten by beating Poltrgeist in Kefka's Tower. You can get another by betting the Sky Render (gotten from beating Doom in Kefka's Tower) at the Coliseum. Tiger Fangs: Gotten by beating Allo Ver (not sure if I spelt that right) in the Veldt Cave, a monster in the Box. You can get more by stealing from GtBehemoth's in Kefka's Tower Thief Knife: Gotten in the house in Narshe with all the Treasure Chests. You can get more by stealing form Slam Dancers in Zozo Assassin: Found in a chest in the Sealed Cave Striker: Found in a chest in the Veldt Cave Stunner: Found in Fanatics Tower, I'll let you figure what its in. Tempest: One can be stolen from Number 128 in the Mine Cart ride at the end of the Magitek Factory. The other is gotten in a chest in the Sealed Cave Scimitar: Gotten by beating Blue Dragon. Sky Render: Listing this only cause people will kill me for ignoring Cyan's STRONGEST (not best) weapon. Anyway, got by beating Doom in Kefka's Tower, and can also get another by betting the Aura Lance at the coliseum. Fixed Dice: Found in Team 1's route of Kefka's Tower Doom Darts: Found in the Cave to the Ancient Castle. Note that in FF6 Anthologies, these are called Trump (and vice versa) Magus Rod: Gotten by beating Dirt Dragon. You can get two more by betting Heal Rods at the Coliseum Gradeus: Gotten by beating Master Pug, a Monster in the Box in the Cave to Ancient Castle Imp Halberd: Gotten as a rare drop from Tyranosaurs (found in a forest west of the Veldt), or by stealing from Mantodea's (found in a variety of standard terrains in the WoR, like outside of Doma, Narshe, Maranda, etc.) Shields: Thunder Shld: There are 2 in chests, located at Zone Eater's Cave and Mt. Zozo. You can also bet Genji Glove or Gauntlet at the Coliseum to get this. Lastly, you can steal this from Stereodites in Kefka's Tower Genji Shld: One is found in Fanatics Tower. You can get more by betting Thunder Shlds at the coliseum. Note you can bet the Genji Shlds to get that Thundrr Shld back Aegis Shld: One is found in Mt. Zozo in an easy to find chest. Another can be found in Kefka's Tower in a diverted off secret path. In Team 3's path, when you first get to the conveyor belt area, inspect the southern wall for a secret path, and follow that around (there's a few minor twists and turns) til you reach a room. Paladin Shld: In Narshe, have Locke unlock one of the northern houses. In there, there will be a man resting bed, and he will give you the Cursed Shld. Fight 256 battles with this equipped on any character that isn't Gogo, and it'll become the Paladin Shld. As an side note, a famous and typically recommended strategy is to give the Cursed Shld character a Ribbon, to deal with most of the negative status effects. Force Shld: One is found in Kefka's Tower, the other is gotten by beating Ice Dragon in Narshe Snow Fields. Tortoise Shld: Gotten by betting the Imp's Armor at the Coliseum for this. For how to get Imp Armors, check the Armor section. Helmets: Mystery Veil: Store bought in Thamasa, both WoB and WoR. Oath Veil: Store bought in Maranda WoR. Genji Helm: Found in Daryll's Tomb. You can a few more by betting the Regal Crown for this at the Coliseum, which is gotten by betting the Coronet at the Coliseum (gotten in Kefka's Tower, or by betting the Red Cap, but I recommend against the latter), and by finding it in the Figaro Castle Basement. Red Cap: Found on Mt. Zozo and Kefka's Tower Cat Hood: Gotten by betting Imp Halberd or Titanium at the Coliseum. Check those specific items on how to get those. Bard's Hat: Store bought in a variety of places. Earliest point is on the Southern Continent (the one with Vector and such) in the WoB. Want me to name a place in the WoR so you don't have to go hunting? Fine, Albrook has them, happy? Circlet: Store bought in Jidoor in the WoR. Titanium: Gotten by betting the Tortoise Shld at the Coliseum. See above for how to get those. Armor: Minerva: Found in a chest in Kefka's Tower. Bet the Czarina Gown at the Coliseum for another, or fight Pugs (NOT Pug; I mean the Monster in the Box in Umaro's Cave), who have them as a rare drop AND a rare steal (you fight 3 at a time, so the net chance is about 33% to drop it.) If you're wondering, you can refight Pugs on the Veldt, though typically, its just easier to use the other methods for the Minerva <_< Genji Armor: One can be gotten in Zone Eater's cave, more can be obtained by betting any of those Animal Suits that only Strago and Relm can equip (like Moogle or Chocobo) at the coliseum, and continually betting what you win. If you're curious, you can get more of those by stealing from various monsters in Owser's House. Force Armor: One is gotten by beating Storm Dragon on Mt. Zozo. Another can be gotten in the Fanatic's Tower, as well as in Kefka's Tower. A 4th can be gotten by stealing from Guardian in Kefka's Tower, though this is a bit of a pain due to the thing's high level, and note that it has an alternate steal in the Ribbon, so no, a successful steal won't guarantee you it. Behemoth Suit: Gotten by beating SrBehemoth in the Veldt Cave. You can get more by fighting SrBehemoth on the Veldt after you beat him initially. Note: This isn't as hard as it sounds, since the Veldt Formation Pack he's in tends to have few alternatives, so your chances of finding one are pretty good, at least, per cycle. Also, if you fight an SrBehemoth, you are insured to fight another in the next battle on the Veldt, and then have a 100% chance to fight one SrBehemoth per Veldt Cycle from there after. Also he's undead, so actually killing him fast isn't a big deal either. Do note that if you killed the LIVING SrBehemoth through Vanish/X-zone or some other "Stalls Final Attacks" move like Odin or Snare, you won't fight the original Undead SrBehemoth, and he'll never appear on the Veldt (Vanish/Doom works, mind, since it doesn't stall final attacks, thus, the monster replacement kicks in normally) Talk about a mouthful for one item :) Snow Muffler: Umaro comes with one initially equipped!!! Though you can't remove it, so joking aside, bet the BehemothSuit at the Coliseum for this. If you want to see how to get those, you clearly haven't been reading the whole FAQ <_<. I'll give you a hint; look one equip up. Red Jacket: Gotten in Zone Eater's cave. You can get another in the Colloseum by betting Mirage Vest (requires getting Thornlet, which isn't easy so you can skip that) or, in a much easier and preferable manner, bet the Bone Club. You can get that by buying a Ninja Star at Thamasa in the WoR and continually betting what you win. Naturally, if you want to skip steps and bet something latter in the chain, be my guest. Tao Robe: Storebought in Maranda in the WoR Imp's Armor: Steal from Tyranosaur's (see Imp Halberd), or as a rare drop from Sprinters, found in the same places as Mantodea's (see Imp Halberd) Relics: Gem Box: Find at the end of the Fanatics Tower. Economizer: Rare drop from Brachosaur (see where Tyranosaurs are, only MUCH rarer…also harder <_<) You can also steal these from Aquilla's which are found in the later areas of the non lava parts of Phoenix Cave. Note: You can make your life easier with the Aquilla method by using the Colloseum instead. Do the Pearl Lance <-> Strato loop, and you'll fight one Aquilla each loop. Best strategy would be send Gogo in with 3 Steal Commands, Thief Glove (So the fight actually ends), maybe a Sneak Ring, and as much M. Block as possible. Offering: Gotten by beating KatanaSoul, a Monster in the Box in the Ancient Castle. Hero Ring: One can be gotten in the WoB from the house north of Kolinghen, hidden in a pot. If you don't get this before the WoR, its gone for good. If you didn't open the chest earlier in South Figaro Cave, that chest in that lone room becomes a Hero Ring (it’s a Tincture initially, and if you grab it anytime during or after Locke's scenario in the WoB, it’s a Thunder Rod) Also found in chests in Kefka's Tower and Zone Eater Cave, as well as one found in the Auction House. Lastly, you can get it by betting Pod Bracelet in the Coliseum. Pod Bracelets are gotten by winning from Wrexsoul (only if you beat him legitly; using X-zone strategy nets you nothing), or by stealing from Doom Dragon, if you're curious, as well as a chest in Narshe becomes a Pod Bracelet if you don't open it until the WoB. (As a side note, yes, its annoying to have to write out all these potential ways for universally good equips, but its even more annoying to write stuff like this out for equips good for one or two characters like the Red Jacket >_>) Earrings: Storebought in a variety of places, earliest being Albrook in the WoB. They are also found in chests earlier in the game in South Figaro, Phantom Train and the house in Narshe with all those chests. Stolen from Brainpan and Veteran, but at that point, its just easier to buy them. Atlas Armlet: Store Bought wherever Earrings are. Can be stolen from Hadesgigas in Zozo, and there's one early in the game in Mt. Koltz, hidden in a path in the first indoor area. Check the east wall for a bit of a hidden path; remember, you CAN walk behind walls sometimes. White Cape: First Found in Returner's Hide Out hidden room. In the northern room, check the eastern wall for a hidden path. Can be bought at Mobliz (WoB only) and Nikeah. Dragoon Boots: Can be stolen from Harvesters in Zozo and Wyverns on the Overworld in the Southern Continent (both rare steals with an alternate in the common slot, mind) One is found in Magitek Factory via chest, and you can get unlimited later in the game by just buying them, be it WoB Thamasa or WoR Tzen Dragon Horn: Gotten in a chest in the Phoenix Cave. Said chest is located right near Red Dragon (note that some people say it’s a reward for beating Red Dragon, but this isn't true; you can actually get the Dragon Horn BEFORE Red Dragon; your reward for Red Dragon is a Strato.) You can get more by betting Economizer (see above), Safety Bit (see below), Charm Bangle (ultimate prize in the Imperial Banquet sequence), or Gold Hairpin (one is gotten in Mt. Zozo and Ancient Castle, you can get another instead of Mog in the WoB. There are other ways, but at this point, I'd just say "Use Economizer Strategy" <_<) Merit Award: Bet the Cat Hood at the Coliseum. See above how to get that. Marvel Shoes: Bet the Rename Card at the Coliseum. Rename Cards can be gotten either by betting the Merit Award (see above) or Elixir (gotten in a bunch of ways I don't want to get into) at the coliseum. Safety Bit: Gotten in a chest in Fanatics Tower. You can get another by stealing from Doom in Kefka's Tower. If you really want more, you can use Metamorph on L90 Magic, White Dragon, Boxed Set, Trixter, Wooly or L60 Magic. Don't expect this to be easy though. Memento Ring: Relm comes initially equipped with one. You can find another in Strago/Relm's house by inspecting the little crevice thing in the western wall upstairs. If you want a 3rd (why, I don't know, there's only two users <_<), you can get one my by stealing from Wrexsoul (pity this wasn't a Safety Bit) NOTE: From what I understand, this is called "Safety Ring" in FF6 Anthologies. No real gameplay changes, just noting that if you find something that isn't Memento Ring, its cause they changed its name. Rage Ring: Found in Veldt Cave. Blizzard Orb: Found in Ancient Castle. Ribbon: Ok, get ready for another complex item! Anyway, first one can be found in a hidden room in the South Figaro Basement. In the area with random encounters, after winding the clock, when you walk under the ceiling and lose visibility of your character, check the left wall until you start walking through it. You should come to a hidden stairway. In there, go around to the right side of the stairs and inspect that wall to the south right next to the stairs, you should find an invisible crevice. Inspect to the right, and you'll find a Ribbon. Two easy ones to find are in Phoenix Cave and Kefka's Tower as ordinary chests. If you didn't get the Rune Edge in WoB Narshe, it'll become a Ribbon in the WoR. Lastly, you can steal it from Atma Weapon (rarely; you'll usually get an Elixir) on the Floating Continent, Brachosaur in the Forest West of the Veldt, and Guardian in Kefka's Tower. Phew, that should cover most of the equips mentioned in this FAQ. --------------------- 8. Character Rankings --------------------- This section is going to be done in two ways. First, the objective part, which is just listing characters and how they rank on numerical statistics, and the average, so you can really see who is "low" in a stat and such. The 2nd part is the subjective part, which is basically me incorporating all that analysis mumbo jumbo into rankings and such…yeah…I'll just post rankings. Note: While Gau isn't listed in this FAQ, I am going to list his stats in the objective section, for those curious to where he falls. Note 2: For simplicity reasons, I'm just going to round to the nearest whole point. Extra HP: 1. Umaro 60 2. Sabin 58 3. Cyan 53 4. Shadow 51 5. Edgar 49 6. Locke 48 7. Setzer 46 8. Gau 45 9. Celes 44 10. Terra 42 11. Mog 39 12. Relm 37 13. Gogo 36 14. Strago 35 Average: 46 Extra MP: 1. Relm 18 2t. Terra 16 2t. Mog 16 4. Celes 15 5. Strago 13 6. Gogo 12 7. Gau 10 8. Setzer 9 9. Locke 7 10t. Shadow 6 10t. Edgar 6 12. Cyan 5 13. Sabin 3 14. Umaro 0 Average: 10 Vigor: 1. Umaro 57 2. Sabin 47 3. Gau 44 4. Cyan 40 5t. Edgar 39 5t. Shadow 39 7. Locke 37 8. Setzer 36 9. Celes 34 10. Terra 31 11. Mog 29 12. Strago 28 13. Relm 26 14. Gogo 25 Average: 37 Speed: 1. Locke 40 2t. Shadow 38 2t. Gau 38 4. Sabin 37 5. Mog 36 6t. Celes 34 6t. Relm 34 8t. Terra 33 8t. Umaro 33 10. Setzer 32 11t. Edgar 30 11t. Gogo 30 13. Cyan 28 14. Strago 25 Average: 33 Stamina: 1. Umaro 46 2. Sabin 39 3. Gau 36 4. Edgar 34 5. Cyan 33 6. Setzer 32 7t. Locke 31 7t. Celes 31 9. Shadow 30 10. Terra 28 11. Mog 26 12. Relm 22 13. Gogo 20 14. Strago 19 Average: 31 Magic Power: 1. Relm 44 2. Terra 39 3. Umaro 37 4. Celes 36 5. Mog 35 6t. Gau 34 6t. Strago 34 8. Shadow 33 9t. Edgar 29 9t. Setzer 29 11t. Locke 28 11t. Sabin 28 13. Gogo 26 14. Cyan 25 Average: 33 Battle Power: 1. Gau 99 2. Umaro 47 3. Sabin 26 4. Cyan 25 5. Shadow 23 6. Edgar 20 7. Setzer 18 8t. Mog 16 8t. Celes 16 10. Locke 14 11. Gogo 13 12. Terra 12 13. Relm 11 14. Strago 10 Average: 25 (yeah, Gau kind of destroys this average…without him, average is 19) Defense: 1. Umaro 89 2. Sabin 53 3. Mog 52 4. Edgar 50 5t. Cyan 48 5t. Setzer 48 7. Shadow 47 8. Locke 46 9t. Gau 44 9t. Celes 44 11. Terra 42 12. Gogo 39 13. Relm 35 14. Strago 33 Average: 45 Evade: 1. Shadow 28% 2. Gau 21% 3. Locke 15% 4. Relm 13% 5. Sabin 12% 6t. Mog 10% 6t. Gogo 10% 8. Setzer 9% 9. Umaro 8% 10. Celes 7% 11t. Cyan 6% 11t. Strago 6% 13. Terra 5% 14. Edgar 4% Average: 11% Magic Defense: 1. Umaro 68 2. Mog 36 3. Gau 34 4. Terra 33 5. Celes 31 6. Relm 30 7. Strago 27 8. Setzer 26 9t. Shadow 25 9t. Gogo 25 11. Locke 23 12. Edgar 22 13. Sabin 21 14. Cyan 20 Average: 29 M. Block: 1. Gau 18% 2. Mog 11% 3t. Shadow 9% 3t. Celes 9% 3t. Relm 9% 6t. Terra 7% 6t. Strago 7% 8. Gogo 6% 9. Umaro 5% 10. Sabin 4% 11. Locke 2% 12t. Edgar 1% 12t. Cyan 1% 12t. Setzer 1% Average: 6% And that's it for the boring objective stuff. Subjective stuff to come in a later version <_< ----------------------------- 9. Frequently Asked Questions ----------------------------- The title is self explanatory. This will be done in a Q&A session. Q. Where is Gau? Isn't he a character in FF6 too? A. Yes, Gau is indeed a character, and a good one at that. However, Gau is the most in-depth, and complicated character in FF6, he'd require a whole FAQ himself to do him justice. I believe someone is actually working on a FAQ dedicated to Gau as we speak, so be on the look out for it. Yeah, don't worry, I don't hate Gau or anything, its just he'd make this already large FAQ MUCH larger. Q. Why do you emphasize so much on equipment, and Magic Power more than anything else? A. Alright. First off, Vigor is an oddly disappointing stat. Yeah, it does help damage, but not as much as you'd like. At higher levels, it makes a bigger difference, but at lower levels, its not enough. Example? At level 40, on a defense ignoring attack (So damage increase is less with one that isn't), a Hyper Wrist(+50% Vigor) on Edgar with no Vigor boosts of any kind does only 350 more damage, hardly a 10% increase in damage, really. Raised in bulk, Vigor helps, but again, not as much as Magic Power does. Stamina was ignored cause it sucks ass, and Speed cause unless raised in even bigger bulk than Vigor, its even less noticeable due to FF6's ATB. Magic Power helps augment, meanwhile, not only the stronger attacks in FF6, but also makes the Magic skill set, probably the best overall skill set in FF6, stronger at that, so having High Magic Power can really save a character (see Relm, for example) Why equipment vs. Skill sets? Well, with good equipment, you won't need a good skill set. Mog is a good example at how Dances are under whelming in the WoR, but with a good spear, and the Dragoon Combo, he does enough damage to out power most specials anyway to the point where you don't care that he's missing a decent unique skill, especially factoring in his ability to hit 255 Defense fairly easily. Meanwhile, someone like Sabin who relies on one or two attacks seems nice at first, will start looking fairly lack luster as soon as other characters start gaining comparable damage (usually with Magic), and they'll have other noteworthy reasons to be used. In the end, unless the skill is truly magnificent, chances are, it will be outdone by Magic or by variations of the Fight command, since both are more "Twinkish" than any skillset out there. As an interesting side note, its for these reasons that Morph is never truly obsolete, since while other commands start getting outclassed by Fight (or variations of it), and Magic, Morph simply augments both :) You'll really find that a decent skill really doesn't make up for a good equipment set up at all. The only skill set that can really offset bad equipment, somewhat, is Rage, but lets not get into that. Q. How big an influence to Vigor and Magic Power have on characters? A. Alright, someone requested I give raw numbers just for an idea. The following below are damages done at level 40, and before factoring in defenses, weaknesses, random variance, Hero Rings, what have you, since they are ALL multipliers of sorts, so everything gets affected equally (meaning while the raw damage might change, proportionately speaking, they'll remain the same) Vigor's Difference: The following involves an Imp Sabin with his base Vigor (47 which is game best, nixing Umaro) against an Imp Gogo with his base Vigor (game's worst Vigor at 25), both using Imp Halberds (this gives both 255 Battle Power. Yes, this shouldn't happen normally, but that's not the point here. To show vigor differences, battle power ideally should be equal) The Vigor difference is 22, if you're curious (47 vs. 25) Sabin's Damage: 3500 Gogo's Damage: 3090 400 damage difference…considering that Sabin has nearly double Gogo's Vigor, he only manages to do about 12% more damage at level 40. Given this, you can probably tell that Hyper Wrist would only make Sabin's damage go up by another 500 damage at best, meaning with a 45 point edge on Gogo, having nearly TRIPLE Gogo's Vigor at that, he does roughly 30% damage more. Those aren't very good ratios, considering the numbers we're using. Note that with weaker equips, the damage difference won't change, so proportionately; Sabin's damage would be higher. Granted, Sabin and Gogo should never really have equal battle powers, so this is just pure hypothetical. Magic Power Differences: For this, I'm using Relm with her base Magic Power (44, game best) against Cyan with his base Magic Power (25, game worst), both casting Flare (60 Spell Power). Note this is a 19 Point Magic Power difference. Relm's Damage: 3514 Cyan's Damage: 2099 That's a 1415 Damage increase, or proportionately speaking, 67% more damage than Cyan did. Yes, that means even if Cyan uses 2 Earrings, his damage will STILL be worse than Relm with no magic power augmentations. If we were to factor in Relm's magic power boosting equips (Magus Rod, Cat Hood, and Behemoth Suit) against Cyan's (Circlet and Genji Armor), the difference would grow even further (now Relm has just gained 10 more Magic Power on Cyan, effectivly) You'll note Relm's base Magic Power is 176% that of Cyan's, which isn't too far off from the proportional damage increase Relm gets Unlike Vigor, though, you can change any spell for Flare in this case, and the damage won't change proportionately much at all. This is cause Magic Power is a multiplier of Spell Power, so every spell gets the same proportional increase in damage with Magic Power (flip side is that Magic Power is going to have a bigger impact on Ultima's raw damage than that of Flare's, while a weaker spell like Poison is going to have a less noticeable increase, assuming none of these moves hit the damage limit) Meanwhile, Vigor is more or less just added onto Battle Power, in a sense, so lower battle power = higher proportional increase in damage. Ok, now that I've made you sick of the word "proportional", I hope this answered you're question. You'll note that despite Relm's Magic Power edge on Cyan being lower than Sabin's Vigor edge on Gogo, it makes a FAR bigger impact on the attacks in question. End result is that higher base Magic Power means a lot more than higher base Vigor, same rule applies for the ability to augment those stats. Q. Why didn't you include the Merit Award here? A. Merit Award starts creating character clones, really, and then it’s a "use who you like" concept. See, yes, you can make Sabin a great Mage with 128% M. Block using the Merit Award to give him Illumina and Force Armor, along with a Gem Box, but…what does this prove about Sabin? Absolutely nothing, its more so explaining just how good the set up is in general. However, the Merit Award does help some characters out in ways that others can't really take advantage of. For example, Merit Award on Terra lets her use Fixed Dice, which leads to a mean combo of Offering + Fixed Dice + Morph for some really nasty damage on bosses (remember, the only thing Fixed Dice don't ignore are Multipliers) That's a combination that no other character can really apply (for all that, beyond novelty, its not worth it, likely) Another example is the infamous "Wind God Gau" set up, where you use Stray Cat Rage with the Merit Award to equip a Tempest, and now you get the potential of Wind Slash at *4x* damage, should it kick in during a Catscratch. Or conversely, pair that combo with the Primordite Rage, you effectively get an MT Stop Attack at times. Note that the "Wind God" Set ups could be given just as easily to Gogo, but that should go without saying. Basically, Merit Award can help a character, but it's rare that it actually gives a unique use to that character. Q. Why didn't you list X Relic in any set up? Don't tell me you have some beef with that like the Merit Award! A. *Smacks Self* Yes, I can't believe I forgot to point this out…so I'll point it out here! Basically, a lot of the "Good" relics are well, filler. No, I don't mean filler in the bad sense, I mean it more along the lines of that their use is universal that it works well in just about any set up, if you have room for it. Example? Take this set up for Shadow: Thief Knife Thunder Shield Red Cap Genji Armor Hero Ring Alright, obviously, it’s a good set up for Throw, hence why Hero ring was there naturally. However, as we saw above, Vigor doesn't make enough of an impact to merit the use of the Hyper Wrist in that second slot, but for a damage set up like this, nothing else really fits well. Solution? Think outside the box! Use some other good relic that, while not really part of the set up scheme, fits nicely anyway! See, that's what I mean by "Filler" relic. Its not a negative thing…more so the reverse. It means the relic is not reliant on set ups to effect their worth (usually, anyway. Ribbon, for example, loses a lot of value on a 128% M. Block set up), so they can be used for just about any set up. The following Relics are what I deem "filler" relics. If you're curious to what any of these do, check Atom Edge's Item FAQ. Marvel Shoes Ribbon Safety Bit (in Relm and/or Shadow's case, preferably Memento Ring) Wall Ring Economizer (for all that I find this Relic overrated, thought I'd mention it anyway) White Cape Hero Ring (or Atlas Armlet/Earrings work just as well, if you're using one source of damage (physical or magical, respectively)) Note some of these MAY have been listed in some set ups already, but that likely means you can remove them FROM the set up, if you wish to alter it slightly (again, relics tend to be flexible, unless they are absolutely crucial for a specific set up. Example? Dragoon Boots and/or Dragon Horn on Mog for a physical set up is one that's relic dependant) Yes, other good relics do exist, but they are either: A. Too situational (Dragoon Boots/Dragon Horn, I'm looking at you) B. Too Elusive (Offering and Gem Box…) C. typically a worse version of something already up there (Gold Hairpin is an inferior Economizer, for example, or Pod Bracelet is Marvel Shoes w/out the Regen or Haste, etc.) D. Just flat out aren't worth wasting a relic slot on in general (Back Guard comes to mind) So yeah, don't worry, I didn't forget about them (ok, yes, I did, but lets not get into that <_< >_>), nor do I hate them, its more like I was too enwrapped in thinking of relics that fit set ups nicely that I just didn't feel that mentioning "filler relics" was worth it. That, or it was a tough choice to choose what relic would work best, so I took the lazy way out, and just listed them here, and mentioned a "fill that spot with whatever you like" Truth be told, it is hard to decide which of the above relics work best, so I'll let you decide, based on your playing style. Still can't decide? Then pick them out of a hat or something, or just blindly choose the first one that comes to mind, though, at least try to apply SOME common sense when choosing the relic (like White Cape would obviously be useless if the character in question already has 128%+ M. Block) More to come in later versions <_< >_> ---------- 10. Credits ---------- First, I'd like to thank Squaresoft for making such a fine game. Even after many years, it remains one of my favorites (and I've played 60+ RPGs…not to brag >.>) Next, I'd like to thank CjayC for making Gamefaqs, and letting this FAQ be posted there. Another message of gratitude (Does that make any sense?) given to those who supported me on this FAQ, mostly those from the FF6 General Board. I'd like to thank Master Zed and NeoElfboy for helping me with a few random things (be it reading my random snippits, giving some opinions, etc.) in this FAQ. Sure, wasn't needed, and I know it was annoying, but still, its nice to get some outside opinions from other experts. Thanks to Nephrite making the first attempts at "De-meeping" the FAQ And lastly, I'd like to give a really cliché and silly thanks to you, the reader, for reading this FAQ…ok, I'll shut up. Well, that's it for the Character FAQ of FF6. I hope you enjoyed it, as it took me a long time to write this, and I put a lot of effort into this. Anyway, should you need help, contact me in the ways I mentioned earlier. I hope this FAQ helped give you insight on the characters of FF6, and that you'll not get drawn in by some misconceptions (whatever those maybe) again. Anyway, this is Meeplelard saying good bye, and good luck in the future.