Final Fantasy VI Bosses

Wow. There is just so little I can say about Holy Dragon here. He casts up to three Holy spells every turn. When hit by a Magic spell, he has a 66% chance of countering with Dispel. And that's it. Heck, you've even seen a palette swap of the thing earlier.

Holy Dragon casts nothing but spells, and is vulnerable to Mute. That's all there is to it, just cast a Silence spell and you're done. You don't have to bother with Slow, Stop, and all that, just cast Silence and attack the thing with offensive spells. If you're getting low on MP, use Osmose. Try not to swallow anything sharp while playing, as that's the only situation I can imagine where a loss on your part is actually possible. If you brought either Locke or Shadow, equip a Thief's Knife and go for Holy Dragon's steal items, as both are nice.

If you arrived here with a solo-Mog party (with the hopes of raiding chests), the strategy is only slightly different; since you don't want to take any chances, be sure you're equipped with a Reflect Ring. If Mog doesn't know the Silence spell, equip Siren so Mog can summon her for the Hope Song attack. Now that Holy Dragon is at Mog's mercy, just attack until he's dead. Expand Full Strategy

In simpler times, white magic was all about loving thy neighbor. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, cast Protect and take it. Holy Dragon (Redux) does not concern itself with ethics, never read Aristotle, is probably not even really related to your holy man of choice anyway. Holy Dragon (Redux) is an elemental weapon, and bad news for us, it's a rocket launcher.

Holy Dragon (Redux) perhaps isn't the most difficult fight in the Dragon's Den, but it's definitely a lot harder than any sparring match we engage in with his peers. The Holy element is the only element we can't really absorb without a lot of fuss. A single character can be safeguarded with the Paladin's Shield, and there's up to two Ragers that can absorb or null the Holy element, this much is true. However, the odds you've got the Shield and two Ragers on your team aren't so large.

Holy Dragon (Redux)'s attacks are nasty. It can use up to three Saintly Beam attacks in every odd turn, swapping to the occasional Holy spell after the general battle timer has exceeded 20 Doom intervals (which is about 13 seconds uninterrupted by slowdown you may have installed with the 'Wait' option in the menu). Every even turn will feature physical attacks; of which !Heavenly Wrath is extremely powerful. If Holy Dragon (Redux) is attacked it has a 66% chance of using Curaga on itself, regaining about 6000 HP. It may also counterattack with Heartless Angel 1/3 of the time.

On a character with average defenses (say, Thunder Shield, Circlet and Genji Armor), Saintly Beam will deal about 1000 damage, and up to three of them will kill those characters unless they're high-leveled. In addition, there's the risk of attacking Holy Dragon (Redux), getting a Heartless Angel counter and then seeing your entire party get slaughtered by Heartless Angel. Oh yeah, and there's the barrier of Curaga. We can cast Reflect on Holy Dragon (Redux) to stop it from healing itself for a while, but this also means we can't cast spells that bounce off Reflect barriers (such as -aga spells and Flare), nor can we choose to Rage Great Malboro or Baalzephon, since they use Bio and Blizzaga, respectively. Nasty, nasty.

Okay, here's what we're going to do. Max out Magic Defense on all characters. This will make all physical attacks hurt like hell, but after throwing up the Maginot Line we shouldn't really have to worry about them. Or, at least not as much as Saintly Beam and Holy spells. Tortoise Shields and Reed Cloaks have very high Magic Defense, as do Force Shields. Stick to your Minerva Bustiers, as they halve damage done by Holy-elemental attacks. If your Magic Defense exceeds 200, it's pretty doable. Make sure to equip Zona Seeker as well; you'll want Shell on all characters throughout the match. Mighty Guard works just as well. Equip Prayer Beads as well, as while we've been preparing for the magical attacks it's the stray physical ones that may hand us defeat. If you have a Paladin's Shield, know that revival takes top priority. If you can combine the Soul of Thamasa and the Paladin's Shield with anybody that knows Arise, you're in business.

Take any Holy Lances off of Edgar and Mog, and take note that the random Holy spell from the Lightbringer may heal Holy Dragon (Redux). As soon as you enter the battle, cast Hastega, summon Golem and Fenrir, use Mighty Guard or summon Zona Seeker and cast Reflect on Holy Dragon (Redux). Ragers can be awesome, but only with either Magic Urn, a great healing asset that absorbs Holy-elemental attacks, or Io, that negates the element but uses Flare Star, which is quite damaging to Holy Elemental Evil II.

Here's the kicker. Never attack Holy Dragon (Redux) when you know he's free to Curaga the damage away afterwards, as likely you'll deal less damage than 6000. The less you attack the less you run the risk of Heartless Angel/Saintly Beam, which spells your demise in most cases, so make your hits count. The biggest ally you have in this battle is the Quick spell. Since the first attack you make in your Quick-induced double turn will never provoke counters, you can entirely avoid Holy Dragon (Redux) casting Curaga and using Heartless Angel. Another great help is the Force Field attack; once Strago or Gogo has managed to nullify the Holy element, Saintly Beam will never kill a character again. Note that (obviously) Curaga still works.

That's all the advice I can give you. Holy Dragon (Redux) is a nasty critter, but if you find your flow you should be able to take him down eventually. If you really can't get past the thing, set a 255 Defense Back Row Gau up with anything that nullifies or absorbs Holy-elemental attacks (preferably Io or Baalzephon) and go watch a movie. After the movie, you should've won. Expand Full Strategy