Final Fantasy VI Bosses

There are a few oddities about this thing. First off, it's supposed to be a scary Ymir upgrade, a task at which it fails. Second, notice how the shell is Floating but the head isn't? The tale of a creature whose head was too heavy to carry hasn't been new since Catoblepas, but I've never seen it applied to a snail before. Angler Whelk also made an appearance in the 1996 Square game 'Bahamut Lagoon', which never hit the shores of America. Same name, same sprite, has a tendency to appear when you destroy buildings with Thunder-techs.

Also, the game designers made a little mistake we're going to exploit here; we were never supposed to obtain more than one Dragon Claws from this fight, but we're getting two. Just watch me.

The AI script of the head is simple. If you damage the head two times, it'll retract into its shell, disappearing from the battlefield. It'll remain there for 20 seconds, at which point is comes out again. It'll use Battle, !Petriblast, El Nino, and Megavolt without causing itself any difficulties, so be ready for any of them at all times. The shell attacks by itself, and is no longer just an auto-counter dummy. Battle, Megavolt, and 1000 Needles may appear at all times, of which 1000 Needles should be watched for especially. When the head has retracted, it'll stop using its normal attacks and switch over to Magnitude 8. Whenever the shell is damaged, it has a 33% chance at retorting with Gigavolt.

The strategy we're aiming for is simple. If one of the parts dies, the other one dies as well, but will NOT give us the item. Thus, if we want both sets of Dragon Claws (and we certainly do, as Angler Whelk is the only source for Dragon Claws in the game), we have to kill them both at the same time.

First, our defenses! If you didn't cast Float earlier, do so at the start of the battle. Zona Seeker helps against Megavolt, Gigavolt, and El Nino. Golem and/or Fenrir protect against Battle and !Petriblast. You could have Celes on Runic stand-by for Megavolt and Gigavolt, but it's not worth it. Now, let's kill this snail.

Since both targets are susceptible to Instant Death attacks and Petrify, the two best strategies are using Banish and using Catoblepas's Demon Eye. However, we don't want to take any chances, do we? First, if you have the Vanish spell, cast it on the shell to ensure that Banish/Demon Eye will hit it. Remember, this is not a bug exploit; the shell is susceptible to instant death attacks, and setting Clear just makes sure the intended move hits, exactly what it was always supposed to do. Sadly, we can't apply Sleep or Stop to make sure Banish/Demon Eye works on the head, because both attacks check for the target's Stamina (in which case those steps are ignored). So, we'll just have to take our chances here. Since Demon Eye is more accurate than Banish, it takes precedence. If the head is missed, I suggest you reload the game. Expand Full Strategy