This guide is meant for players who want to attempt either a Low-Level Game (LLG) or Perfect Stats Game (PSG) in the Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy VI.

An LLG aims to beat the game with an average party level as low as possible. For a full patched Pixel Remaster, where experience gains can be completely turned off, that means an average level of 6.64 across all 14 playable characters. It also aims to complete all sidequests and optional bosses under these conditions.

A PSG aims to raise the stats of all characters in an optimal way by delaying experience gains until stat boosting espers are available. This means that for ~40% of the game, a PSG plays identically to an LLG.

This guide pulls in info from all over the web across all the versions of this game and puts it in one place, updated for the Pixel Remaster. The fully patched Pixel Remaster provides extra tools to make the game more accessible and more "perfect," as the player is able to turn off experience gains and random encounters, and boost gil/AP gains.

The walkthrough in this guide will provide strategies for how to beat every boss under low-level conditions. It will note a few places where an LLG and PSG differ, and will do a full route split after Thamasa between these two goals, first wrapping up the PSG and then continuing on with the LLG.

The appendices of this guide will go through the mechanics of stat gains and levelling, as well as a discussion on the optimal stat boosts for each character.

This guide has a two limitations:

• It is not a general walkthrough. It assumes the player has completed some version of FFVI at least once, and is familiar with the characters, locations, and mechanics of the game.
  
• It is not a guide for 100% Bestiary, Formations, Rages, Lores, Dances, Treasure Chests, or Hidden Items. It is certainly possible to do these things in under low-level conditions, but I will only be mentioning things relevant to this challenge.

• Terra - 3
  
• AVERAGE - 3

Immediately open the menu and go to Configuration. Set Experience gains to 0x and turn Encounters off. I also recommend bumping up gil and AP gains to 4x. This isn't strictly necessary, but it will make the game considerably less tedious.


Encounters can also be turned on/off without going into the menu using an button press - for an Xbox controller it is R3.

A note about encounters: I recommend keeping them off as often as possible, and only turning them back on in areas where you need a specific encounter for a Rage, or to farm gil/AP. This is because every new enemy formation you fight adds another bit of entropy to the Veldt, which makes getting Gau's Rages ever more cumbersome as more enemies start appearing there.

Another note about Rages: I'm only going to mention Rages that are used for strategies in this run, denoted in bold. I'll also include the optimal formation in which to encounter them, to reduce congestion in the Veldt. This means that some otherwise powerful Rages, like Stray Cat, will not be talked about. You can still get them, but they aren't needed for any fights. Obviously, if you are also doing a 100% Bestiary or Formations challenge as well, you will be encountering far more enemies than those I'm listing here.

Back to the Configuration menu, Battle Speed is your preference. The fastest setting is normally preferable for general play, but fights are easier at lower speeds, which is relevant for a couple of bosses.

While you're in the menu, put Terra, Biggs, and Wedge into the back row. This is where all your characters should always be in 99% of circumstances, so make it a habit to do this every time someone new joins. I will put reminders throughout the guide as well.

Proceed as normal through Narshe. Unlike with previous versions of the game, you do not need to knock out Terra for this challenge, as she won't be gaining any experience anyway. At the end, confront the first boss.


Attack the head using Magitek Missile with Terra and Fire or Ice Beam with Biggs and Wedge. Use Healing Force if someone's HP dips low. Don't queue up your attacks; when one character is attacking, hold off confirming the next character's action until a few seconds after the first is done.

Watch the cutscene following the battle, then grab the Elixir from the clock in Arvis's house. I'm not going to mention it in every location, but I'm going to assume you are looting all the items and chests in every area, with the exception of the items that become better in the WoR.

Run out the back door of the house to continue.

• Terra - 3
  
• AVERAGE - 3

The chests here contain a Phoenix Down and a Sleeping Bag right now. Waiting until the World of Ruin to open these gives a Guard Bracelet and Elixir instead. In previous versions, it was actually more beneficial to grab these items right away because resources were so scarce early in the game, but in the PR it's perfectly viable to skip these for now and get the WoR upgrade.


After losing control of Terra, watching the cutscene, and then gaining control of Locke (joins at level 5, new party average is 4), the game presents a challenge: because Terra gained no levels, Locke, Mog, and all the other Moogles will be several levels lower than the game is technically balanced for. And unlike the later multi-party defence section in Narshe, this one has no healing point.

It is still entirely possible to defeat all the enemies here, if the parties are juggled efficiently. Have Mog's party start by defeating enemies until they run out of HP. Mog will learn Twilight Requiem after the first fight, so have him use that every fight going forward. If/when Mog's group falls, unequip Mog's Mythril Spear and Mythril Shield. Have the other Moogle-only party then mop up whatever regular enemies remain. Finally, equip the Mythril Shield to Locke and have his party fight the boss.


No special strategies again.

Have the Moogles focus on the wolves first, and have Locke steal from the Leader if you want the Mythril Knife. The success rate for this is about 41%, so it may take a few tries. Once the wolves are down, focus on the boss. Don't be afraid to use a healing item if things look dire.

Once you win, exit the cave, equip the Mythril Knife if you got it, and transfer the Mythril Shield to Terra as she's the weaker character. Be sure to stop by the Adventuring School to pick up a few more items, then head to Figaro Castle.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• AVERAGE - 4

Once you have free reign in the castle, loot all the items, and then buy a Noiseblaster and a Bioblaster from the equipment shop. You can hold off buying any consumables for now, as what you have will get you to South Figaro.

Complete all the events of the castle. Edgar will join at the end (joins at level 6, new party average is 4.67). You can give him Mog's Mythril Spear. Get ready for the next battle.


This fight isn't dangerous, even though it's a back attack. Have Edgar use Noiseblaster every turn to make this fight completely safe. If you want, you can have Locke try to steal some Hi-Potions, and you can use Fire with Terra for the cutscene. Otherwise, they will eventually defeat themselves. If you're really worried, you can transfer all your characters to the front row during the preceding scenes, but it isn't necessary at all.

Proceed to South Figaro Cave once you are victorious.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 4.67

South Figaro Cave has three treasure chests that also upgrade, though it's not as simple as the chests in the Narshe Mines. Here's how it breaks down:


I recommend waiting until at least Locke's scenario before grabbing any items.

On the other side of the cave, head down to South Figaro. Meet Shadow, then start picking up items. Certain items here also upgrade in the World of Ruin, specifically most of the hidden items in the town's exterior. Here's a quick list:

• Phoenix Down -> <does not upgrade> (barrel in the back of the rich person's house)
  
• Potion -> Holy Water (barrel west of Chocobo Stable)
  
• Green Cherry -> Tent (crate east of Chocobo Stable)
  
• Gold Needle -> Elixir (crate in southwest corner of town)
  
• Antidote -> Tent (barrel just north of the Docks entrance)
  
• Eye Drops -> Remedy (crate just north of the Docks entrance)
  
• Potion -> X-Potion (barrel between the armory entrances)
  
• Teleport Stone -> Phoenix Down (barrel on the wall in the SW corner)

I would take everything except the Gold Needle and the Potion between the armory entrances, as those turn into items that can't be bought.

Conversely, all the items in the interiors can all be picked up immediately as they never upgrade. Especially valuable are the Hyper Wrist, Hermes Sandals, and 3000 gil available in the basement of the rich person's house.

Finally, check the shops for upgrades. Here's what your equipment should look like at the end of all this:


Terra and Locke won't have anything to equip in their relic slots unless you buy something, and nothing available is absolutely critical. Sprint Shoes always a QoL option, if you want them.

Sabin will also join soon, so make sure you have an spare Buckler and Plumed Hat for him.

A final note about weapons: throughout the guide I will be suggesting the "best" option. However, Edgar's Tools, Sabin's Blitzes, Shadow's Throw, and even Cyan's Bushido don't depend on the power of their equipped weapon, so any weapon upgrade suggested for them is optional if all they do is increase attack damage. Later weapons will have other bonuses, making them far more desirable as upgrades.

Stock up on consumables once all your equipment is purchased. I recommending bringing your Potion stack to around 25 and your Phoenix Downs to at least 5. Also make sure you have at least 3 Antidotes, and more if you plan on doing extra random encounters on Mt. Kolts for whatever reason. Finally, buy a Tent or two.

Do not bother trying to get stacks of 99 of all these consumables right now; you only need enough items to get you through the next part of the game, and you can buy most of them at half price at Figaro Castle later.

If you still run out of money, you can go out and do some random encounters, with free healing at Sabin's cabin to the north.

When you're ready, head out to Mt. Kolts. Proceed up the mountain normally, making sure to grab the Main Gauche for Locke and the Gigas Glove for Edgar (move the Hermes Sandals to Locke).

At the screen with Vargas (the winding grassy path), we have the first randomly encountered enemy with an important Rage: Trillium. Turn on encounters to encounter one. The best formation contains 2x Trilliums (10/16 chance) and nothing else.


Heal and quicksave before Vargas, then start the fight.


This is the first real challenge of an LLG, as your lack of levels will really start to show. Don't be surprised if this fight takes a couple of tries, and don't be afraid to reduce the Battle Speed.

Have Edgar use Autocrossbow while Terra uses single-target Fire on one Ipooh. Locke should heal with Potions, trying to keep everyone's HP above 50. Once one Ipooh goes down, have Terra switch to regular attacks, as you'll want preserve MP to use a full-party Cure after Vargas uses Gale Cut.

Once both Ipoohs are down, have Edgar switch to Bioblaster. After dealing 700-800 damage to Vargas, Sabin will arrive.

In the Pixel Remaster, you need to deal ~400 damage to trigger the Blitz tutorial before you can defeat Vargas. Use Aura Cannon every turn until the tutorial appears, unless Sabin falls below 50 HP, in which case heal with a Potion.

Sabin will be added to the party after the fight (joins at level 6, new party average is 5). Give him a Buckler and a Plumed Hat and put him in the back row. Leave Mt. Kolts and head towards the Returner Hideout. Before entering, take all of Locke's equipment away.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 5

Talk to Banon. Everyone but Terra will be temporarily removed from the party, and when it reforms, Locke will be gone, which is why we took away his gear. You can then loot the hideout and progress the story.

As a reminder, in the scenes where Banon asks Terra for her help, you will get a Gauntlet if you say yes, and a Genji Glove if you say no three times. You can also get the Genji Glove early by saying no once and then talking to the Returner in the northwest room, after which you can say yes, though this won't get you both a Genji Glove and a Gauntlet.

Once you have control of your party again, you will have Terra, Edgar, and Sabin as fully playable characters, and then Banon as a guest. Banon will be at the very low level of 2, and combining that with the low levels of the other characters will make the Lethe River very difficult.

To remedy this, leave the Returner Hideout to the world map and turn encounters back on, as well as turning Experience gains to 4x. In the first encounter, defeat all the enemies except one, then have all your characters except Banon knock themselves out (Terra's Fire spell is very useful for this). Then have Banon finish the fight alone, gaining all the experience. Rest in the Hideout if necessary, and repeat this process. After a few levels, Banon will be able to solo fights on his own most of the time, but be sure to save every so often.


The higher Banon's level is, the easier the next portion will be. Level 10 is a pretty good target, though a lower level can work.

Once you are satisfied with Banon's level, turn Experience gains back off, rest one more time at the Hideout, and buy any items you need from the shop there - Potions and Phoenix Downs are the most important right now. Arrange your equipment something like this:


Save one more time, then jump onto the raft.

The fights here are a bit tedious, but aren't too dangerous Have Edgar use Autocrossbow, Sabin use Aura Cannon, and Terra Attack. Banon should be using Pray every turn. The only thing to really look out for are the Lesser Lopros enemies, which have a 33% chance of wiping out the party with Fireball on their third turn (though a high level Banon can survive). To be safe, you can use Edgar's Noiseblaster to keep them confused as you did the Magitek Armor.

The fastest route through the river is picking left at both junctures. After reaching the second Save Point, heal up and proceed to the next boss.


This fight is one of the more involved ones in this challenge, because your options are very limited, and Ultros follows a surprisingly extensive AI script. However, there is a specific strategy to get you through consistently.

Start by having Terra Defend, while Sabin uses Aura Cannon, Edgar uses Autocrossbow, and Banon uses Pray. Early in the fight Terra will be hit with a single-target Tentacle, which she will barely survive if she is Defending and in the back row. If her second turn comes and she hasn't been hit by Tentacle yet, don't select Defend again, as doing so will cancel her Defend status while her action is queued.

After the first Tentacle, have Sabin switch to Defending, as he will be the next target. As with Terra, don't select Defend again if he gets another turn before the Tentacle hits him. Have Terra start casting Fire, switching to regular attacks if she runs out of MP. Don't worry about the Blind effect Ultros counters with.

After the second Tentacle, have Sabin switch back to Aura Cannon. Ultros's next turn will be a multi-target Tentacle followed by a single-target attack on a random character, possibly bringing them down. Bring them back up if they fell, with the preferred order of healer being Terra > Edgar > Sabin > Banon.

After one more turn, Ultros will target Banon with a single-target Tentacle. Banon will live if sufficiently leveled and healed. Some guides say it's around 250 damage, but I saw closer to 150 when I played.

At this point, you will be clear. It is possible for his script to loop around, so if you start seeing his opening dialogue again ("Oh, that one's a tasty morsel!"), you'll know he's starting up his Tentacle attacks again. You can try to Defend again with Terra, but it is probably too late, so start Defending with Sabin as well.

After 3,000 damage, the fight will end, and the party will be split up. I'll be handling the disparate scenarios in the relative order of complexity, i.e. first Terra/Edgar/Banon, then, Locke, and finally Sabin.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 5

This scenario is mostly trivial. The remaining fights in the Lethe River are a bit more difficult without Sabin, but you still have Banon healing every turn, and if things look dicey you can always have Edgar use Noiseblaster to get some breathing room.

Once you exit the river, head up to Narshe. Heal at the bucket in the Adventuring School, then proceed into the mines.

The biggest thing of note is that there is the unique encounters at the security puzzle. If you take a wrong turn, you can fight an encounter with enemies that have no Bestiary entry. There are two possible formations: one with 2 Darkside, and another with 1 Darkside, 1 Specter, and 3 Eukaryote.

There is also the final treasure chest that changes in the World of Ruin. This one is in the Moogle village and contains a Rune Edge right now, which turns into a Ribbon later. The sword is of no value in an LLG, so I recommend letting it be.


Once you're through the mines, unequip everything from Terra and Edgar. You will want to use their gear in the other scenarios.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 5

Nothing fundamentally changes about South Figaro compared to a normal game. Just watch your HP when you get into the fights where you need to steal clothing, as you not only have less of it, but you also have a worse chance to Steal. But because you don't need deal damage, you can equip the best defensive gear: Main Gauche, Mythril Shield, Genji Glove (provides +5 Defense even when not dual-wielding) and the White Cape (if Sabin doesn't have it).

Pick up Celes (joins at level 5, party average remains 5), making sure to put her in the back row. Also make sure to grab the equipment for her out of the chests before you leave.

Once you're out of South Figaro, head to the Cave, where you're presented with a choice. Recall this chart:
You can grab the X-Potion now, as it won't be upgraded again in the WoR.

The Thunder Rod is a choice you'll have to make. Taking it now will make the Crane fight marginally easier by eliminating one turn of randomness, but it isn't required. On the other hand, a Hero's Ring is a very good relic, but by the middle of the WoR you will have a lot of good relics, and it won't necessarily be missed.


My personal preference is to leave the rod and get the ring later, but both paths are viable.

Once you finish deliberating, heal up at the recovery spring and set up your characters like this:

The idea here is that you leave enough equipment for Sabin and company, while also not making the next boss as tedious as it can be.

Drop a quicksave, then head towards the boss.


This fight is annoying, but not particularly hard. Have Celes use Runic every turn, except if she needs to revive Locke (and if that happens, you've probably already lost anyhow). Locke can steal if you want (Air Knife is common Bioblaster is rare), and then attack otherwise, stopping to heal if either character gets below 50 HP. With Locke averaging 60 damage per turn, this can take a while, especially if the boss decides to use Drill repeatedly (33% chance every turn). If you start seeing Magitek Laser, it means you're below 30% HP (384/1,300 HP).

If you picked up the Thunder Rod, you might be tempted to break it just to get out of the fight, but you should resist that urge. Tunnel Armor is a long and tedious fight, but it's almost perfectly safe. The Cranes are not a guaranteed win under any circumstances, so if you decided to get the Thunder Rod then you may as well save it.

Once the boss is defeated, Locke and Celes will immediately exit the cave without giving you the chance to unequip them. This is why I told you to equip yourself as I did, so that your best relics are available for Sabin's scenario.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 5

When you regain control of Sabin, go into the Cabin and catch the merchant on the Chocobo. Buy some Shurikens - 30 should be fine if you are doing minimum encounters - plus anything else you might want. Then recruit Shadow (joins at level 5, party average remains 5), and move him to the back row immediately. Equip your party like this:


Proceed towards the Imperial Camp. You will watch a scene before shifting perspective to Cyan (joins at level 7, new party average is 5.29). Give him a Heavy Shield, and a spare Plumed Hat if you have one, and move him to the back row. Defeat the Captain using the Sky Bushido as normal.

When you regain control of Sabin and Shadow, proceed through the camp. In any fight, have Sabin use Aura Cannon and have Shadow throw Shurikens. You can open the first chest (the one you need to kick) for a Star Pendant if you like, but you do have to unnecessarily fight some Dobermans for that. They appear on the Veldt in the same group as the more desirable Satellite, so the choice is basically a mediocre and nearly obsolete relic vs. a slightly less random Veldt grind.

After fighting Kefka once, you can loot the rest of the camp. Equip the Ribbon on Sabin and grab the chest with the Satellite monster-in-a-box. Equip the Green Beret you get as a reward on either character (Sabin makes most use of the HP boost), then carry on.


After playing through the cutscenes and some forced encounters, you will have all three members in your party. Arrange your equipment something like this:

And complete the rest of the fights. Once you get Magitek armor, the use whatever abilities you want to end the fights quickly.

Proceed to the Phantom Forest. Take note of the screen with the recovery spring, as it is the best place to earn AP in the WoB. If you want to encounter a Ghost here for its Rage, there is an encounter with a single one of them in it (10/16 chance). Ghost isn't needed for any boss fights, but it casts Thundara, which is useful for some upcoming non-boss fights that are still forced.

If you decide to skip Ghost here, there is a forced encounter on the Phantom Train in a bit.

Make your way to the Phantom Train once you are ready.

Once on the Train, grab a ghost NPC for your party, just to have another sack of HP that enemies can target, plus the ability to insta-kill a single dangerous enemy.

Here you must find the Oversoul enemy for its Rage. Its Will o' the Wisp ability is the strongest single-target Fire attack available for a while, and is key to winning a fight later on. There is a 2x Oversoul encounter in the sixth car (i.e. the car with a Save Point that isn't the caboose or the small car just before the locomotive). I've included screenshots of the location as well as the encounter here, for clarity.


Make sure to equip the second Earring you get here to Sabin, and the second Hyper Wrist on Cyan.

At the end of the train, you get to fight one of the most iconic bosses in the series.


Have the first character to get an action throw a Phoenix Down on the boss for an instant kill.

Watch all the cutscenes and then proceed to Baren Falls.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 5
  
• Shadow - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 5

Before entering Baren Falls, unequip all of Shadow's gear. Once at the Falls, he will leave the party (new party average: 5.33). Arrange your equipment like this:

When you jump in, it will be a continuous battle against the Opinicus Fish for a minute. They only have 10 HP, and every time you clear the screen, more will spawn. You can choose to defeat them as you see them, or just Defend for a minute and then clear the field once to spawn the boss.




Two Aura Cannons and two Fangs will be enough damage, so if both your characters get their second turn, you win.

On its second turn, it has a 33% chance of the boss using El Niño, which will result in a game over, so you may end up trying this more than once.

After regaining control, walk onto the Veldt and prepare to stay here a while.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 5.33

Walk to Mobliz and get some Dried Meat from the store, as well as any equipment upgrades you want. There is also also a free heal at the bed in the Relic shop.

Start a random encounter, and Gau will appear after you win. Use the Dried Meat on him and he will join you (joins at level 7, new party average is 5.57). Put him in the back row immediately.

You're going to spend a bit of time here getting some useful Rages for Gau. If you need a refresher on how Rages and the Veldt work, check out this guide. It's for a different version of the game and thus has some irrelevant parts, but everything you need is still in there. Especially useful is the Veldt encounter table for cross-referencing.

Here is a list of available Rages that are used in this guide, with group numbers and special abilities for each:

• Guard Leader - Group #1; Wind Slash
  
• Trillium - Group #4; Bio
  
• Ghost - Group #9; Thundara
  
• Oversoul - Group #10; Will o' the Wisp

Guard Leader, Trillium, and Oversoul are all used in boss fights in the future, so consider those to be absolutely required. Ghost will be useful in the next section, but isn't required for any boss fight.

The other thing to do here is to fight Satellites, which are in Group #8. They will always drop a Green Beret, which is perhaps the best piece of headgear available in the WoB due to its Evasion and HP. I recommend defeating two Satellites (make sure to give Sabin the Ribbon before the encounter!), which will should give you 3 total Green Berets. A 4th will be found shortly in a chest in the Serpent Trench.

You can also stock up on items if you're running short, but you can get them cheaper in Figaro Castle after Narshe. Instead, grab a Magus Hat for much later, plus 2 extra White Capes (you should have 3 in total).

During all this, remember to save often, as you never know when something can go sideways (e.g. Gau gets confused and uses Thundara on your entire team).

Once you have 3 Green Berets and all the Rages you want, set up your equipment like this:


Head over to the Crescent Mountain cave and jump into the Serpent Trench.

All the enemies here are weak to lightning, so the most damaging Rage for Gau is Ghost. Sabin should use Aura Bolt, and Cyan should use Fang, or maybe Sky against a the formation of 3 Actinians.

The second encounter will always be against a formation with one each of Actinian, Aspiran, and Anguiform. This is a useful formation as you will need the Rage from both Anguiform and Aspiran for future boss fights.


There are two dangerous enemy abilities. Aspirans retaliate with Gigavolt 33% of the time if they are still alive after being targeted, which will wipe the party. They have low HP and generally die if hit by anything, but Gau could use a weak physical attack on them instead of Thundara.

Second, the Anguiforms have a 33% chance of using Aqua Breath on their turn if they are the lone enemy, which is a party wipe unless Gau is using the Trillium Rage, so consider using that if there's an Anguiform in the formation.

Remember to take the right path at both junctures. This will not only lead to fewer encounters, it also accesses the caves with treasure chests, which includes a 4th Green Beret.

Once you arrive at Nikeah, you have one last chance to buy items and equipment before the attack on Narshe. The only new and notable item is the Silk Robe; grab one for Celes. When ready, board the boat to end the scenario.

• Terra - 3
  
• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 5.57

After a bunch of cutscenes, you will first be able to control individual characters. You can use this opportunity to take the equipment away from characters who won't be important in the next sequence, like Locke and Cyan. After you talk to Bannon, you will have the opportunity to finally form 3 parties for fighting the Imperial attack.

Create one party as the main combat team. This party will do 100% of the fighting during this section, and must contain, at a minimum, Celes and Gau. I recommend taking Edgar and Sabin as your other two members, as they have the most to contribute:

Make your second team Terra and Cyan, and equip them with whatever leftover equipment you have. Don't give them anything too valuable, especially to Terra. They are only here in case things go completely off the rails and an enemy gets behind your main combat team.

Your third team will be Locke on his own. He doesn't need any equipment.

Unlike with the Moogle fight in the Narshe Mines, this fight has a healing point at the bucket. If your main combat team falls, they will respawn near Bannon, so they can heal at the bucket and head back towards the enemies.

Now, there are two ways about this: you can either cut a path through the enemies, or you can try to dodge them all and only fight Kefka. The first is generally safer, easier, and more profitable, but it does cause some congestion on the Veldt.

If you decide to fight the enemy parties, you should have Celes attack or cast Blizzard, Edgar use Autocrossbow, Sabin use Aura Cannon, and Gau use a Rage of your choice. Don't use a Rage that casts an actual spell (e.g. Ghost with Thundara) against the Heavy Armor, as they cast Reflect on themselves if Celes is in the party.

Interacting with Kefka triggers the boss fight.



Have Celes use Runic. This will keep you safe from his spells, but be careful if playing on faster Battle Speeds. As with Defending against Ultros, if you select Runic when Celes's turn comes up, she will leave the Runic state and you are vulnerable to spells until she gets her action. If Kefka has a spell in the queue ahead of her, he will hit you with it. Basically, don't refresh Runic with Celes until after she's absorbed a spell with the last one; cycle to Sabin or Edgar as their turns come up instead.

Have Gau Rage Oversoul, with Edgar and Sabin using Autocrossbow and Aura Cannon. Kefka's regular attacks deal less than 50 damage, so have Edgar or Sabin use a Potion on anyone who falls below that threshold.

Watch the cutscenes, where Terra leaves your party (new party average is 6).

• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6

You will have to form a party of four characters. Gau is a given, and I recommend Edgar, and Sabin as well. Edgar will be useful for stocking up on items in Figaro Castle and has good damage with his Tools, while Sabin will still have decent damage with Aura Cannon.

For a fourth, Cyan will deal the most damage, but Locke has some Steal utility in Zozo - you can get an extra Gigas Glove and farm a bunch of gil. I'll give equipment options for both characters.

Celes is by far the least useful character right now, so she should be staying behind no matter what.

You can depart after looting everything in Narshe, especially a third Earring and the Thief's Bracer, and buying new gear at the weapon and armour shops here (hold off buying consumables until Figaro Castle).

Now for the long trek across the continent. Head to Figaro Castle first. Everything here is half price with Edgar (or Sabin) in your party, so buy a Drill from the equipment store. You can buy Flash too, but there is no fight that ever requires it. Stock up on items, but make sure to have some cash leftover for some further equipment upgrades - before selling old gear, there are upward of 11,000 gil in purchases to be made still if you buy every possible upgrade.

Once you're in the Kohlingen area, you can head up to the Dragon's Neck cabin and grab the Hero's Ring for Gau. Then head to Kohlingen for more items. Don't worry about Shadow just yet, we'll be back for him.

Continue on to Jidoor for more equipment upgrades and items. Your final equipment prior to Zozo should look something like this for Gau, Edgar, and Sabin:

And like this for Cyan and Locke, depending on who you picked:
*Swap in the Thief's Bracer if you are going to Steal

Finally, head to Zozo.

There is another key rage here: Gobbledygook, which casts Vanish, and is needed for a boss fight in the Magitek Facility. There is a 4x Gobbledygook formation outside (5/16 chance).


You may also want to consider encountering Hill Gigas if you brought Locke. Its Rage is okay, but not required (it casts Magnitude 8, a weaker version of Quake). However, if you plan on using Edgar or Cyan as your fourth character for the Opera House and Magitek Facility, you can steal another Gigas Glove. There is a formation with a lone Hill Gigas outside (5/16) chance, and with a the Thief's Bracer Locke has a 9.75% chance of stealing. If you do this, I recommend having Gau use the Ghost Rage so that he's Floating, in case the Hill Gigas casts Magnitude 8 when it dies.

You can also farm gil here by abusing a programming oversight. If you Steal from the Harvester enemies, they will counter with a Steal of their own, taking gil from you if they succeed. Normally you get the money back after you defeat them, but the 4x gil multiplier applies to the reclaimed money, so you can net thousands of gil very quickly. Plus, Harvesters also have Dragoon Boots as their Rare Steal, which sell for 4,500 gil.

Make sure to grab all the items here, and then make your way to the boss. Quicksave right before talking to him.


You have 30 seconds before he summons backup in the form of 2x Iron Fists. Use the Trillium Rage with Gau, Drill with Edgar, Aura Cannon with Sabin, and Fang with Cyan. Don't attack with Locke if you brought him, as that will trigger counterattacks. If the boss only uses his regular attack (66% chance any given turn), none of your characters should be in any danger of going down. If Gau casts Bio twice and you took Cyan instead of Locke, you should win just after he calls for reinforcements. If you took Locke, it may take one more action from one of your characters to finish the fight.

Once you are in the room with Terra, unequip all your characters except Gau for now, as the party is about to get shuffled around. Watch the cutscenes, and then get ready to put the story on hold for a while.

• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 5.8

We're going to leave the main quest for a while, as there are some LLG-specific side objectives that need completing:

1. Deposit Gau on the Veldt
   
2. Recruit Shadow
   
3. Level up Shadow once with an esper equipped
   
4. Level up Celes once with an esper equipped
   
5. Remove Shadow from the party
   
6. Retrieve Gau from the Veldt
   
7. Learn a few key Rages

As well, you can start teaching characters some magic.

This is all going to involve two full runs through the Lethe River and Serpent Trench, which can be long and dangerous. If you have Sprint Shoes, you can give that to someone to be able to rush through the non-overworld portions at comical speed in order to save some time.

Start by forming your party in Zozo. You are forced to take Locke and Celes, and Gau is a given. For your fourth member, it's personal preference. Edgar is the strongest non-Gau character right now with his Chainsaw and Drill, but we're going to be doing some AP grinding in a bit, so it may be better to take a character you want to teach magic to instead, if that's not Edgar.

Regardless of who you pick, equip some espers to your characters. You can do whatever feels comfortable for now, but I recommend at least having Celes taking Ramuh so she can get Thunder soonest. It's also up to you if you want some characters to even know magic at all; there's something to be said for characters like Locke and Edgar not knowing any magic so they perform better in the Coliseum.

Start on your trek to the Veldt once ready. From Zozo, go to Figaro Castle and submerge to get back to the Figaro area. Go through South Figaro Cave, Mt. Kolts, and the Returners' Hideout. Fight through the Lethe River, remembering that going left at both forks leads to the fewest potential battles, and you will be deposited in the starting area from Sabin's scenario. Proceed to the Phantom Forest.

Here is a great opportunity to grind AP. At the screen with the recovery spring, there is a 10/16 chance of encountering a formation with a single Ghost, which gives 3 AP when defeated. The other formation in this area, with one Ghost and two Popliums, grants only 1 AP. Both enemy types are weak to Fire and Holy (Aura Cannon), and you can heal between every fight at the spring, so you can use magic freely. I recommend staying here until at least Gau has a good complement of magic, with Thundara at a bare minimum. I also recommend learning Thunder/Thundara and Imp on Celes, and Silence, Imp, and Float on Locke and/or your fourth character, depending on whether you want them to use magic or not.


After you are comfortable with the amount of magic you know, leave the Phantom Forest, jump down Baren Falls, and finally find yourself back on the Veldt.

Leap Gau into an encounter (new party average is 5.8), then head over to Crescent Mountain Cave to enter the Serpent Trench. Despite the items already being claimed, I still recommend taking the right path at both forks, as it leads to fewer encounters, plus the caves give an opportunity to heal and quicksave.

After exiting the Trench, take the boat from Nikeah back to South Figaro, then head back through South Figaro Cave to Figaro Castle, where you can submerge and finally get back to Kohlingen.

Pick up Shadow at the Kohlingen tavern (joins at level 5, new party average is 5.67). You will need 3,000 gil for him to join, but you should have that from the fights in the River and Trench. As he will be automatically leveled to 6 later in the game no matter what, we want to level him now while we can use an esper boost. Your choices right now are Cait Sith (+1 Magic), Ramuh (+1 Stamina), or Siren (+10% HP). I recommend Cait Sith, even if for PSG purposes you plan on later leveling his Strength. Stamina doesn't really do anything anyway, and Siren will only give him an extra 2 HP.

Regardless of which you pick, equip Shadow with the esper plus some equipment. Turn experience gains back on (x1 is fine) and get into a fight. Defeat all the enemies except one, knock out your non-Shadow characters, then have Shadow finish the fight solo by throwing Shurikens. If he doesn't level, have him solo another fight. The lone Fossil Dragon encounter (5/16 chance) in the desert near Kohlingen always gives enough experience to level up from 5 to 6 at 1x boost, and it can be defeated with a single Phoenix Down, though if it gets a turn it will probably cause a game over.


After Shadow is level 6 (new party average is 5.83), revive Celes and equip her with one of the stat boosting espers (recommend Cait Sith again). Get into another fight, knock out Shadow, and have Celes finish the fight solo. Repeat until she also gains a level (new party average is 6). Turn off experience gains again and revive your party.

You now also have a chance to teach Shadow any magic you want him to know. I don't recommend taking him to the Phantom Forest; just fight the enemies around Narshe. However, be warned that Shadow is an extremely useful Coliseum character with his instant death weapon, and not teaching him magic will force him to attack when fighting there.

Once satisfied with Shadow, he needs to be removed from the party. Head back to Narshe, unequipping Shadow of everything before entering. When you walk far enough into Narshe, Shadow will leave on his own (average party level remains 6). You now have a chance to swap party members in Arvis's house if you want to bring a different character to the Phantom Forest.

Now you need to collect Gau again, so head back along the same route described earlier to get to the Veldt, stopping at the Phantom Forest to grind for AP if desired.

Once you have Gau again (rejoins at level 7, new party average is 6.17), there are a few more Rages to pick up:

• Aspiran - Group #9 and #11; Gigavolt
  
• Anguiform - Group #11; Aqua Breath
  
• Gobbledygook - Group #14; Vanish

Once you have your Rages, make your way back through the Serpent Trench and Nikeah once more. Once you are back on the world map outside of South Figaro, you are ready to continue the game.

• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.17
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6

Start heading towards Jidoor and the Opera House. Your party is still Locke, Celes, Gau, and a 4th member. Head back to Narshe to change out the 4th if you don't like your current choice. Make sure that if you do swap out your 4th member, that the character staying behind isn't equipped with any important items.

Who you pick as your 4th is important, as once you beat the boss at the Opera House, you won't be able to swap them out until after the Magitek Research Facility, a whole four boss fights later. You will also likely be teaching this 4th character some magic, so if there are characters you want to keep magic-free, they are out.

Not considering the magic angle, Edgar is the strongest choice with his Chainsaw and Drill. Sabin and Cyan lag behind at this point, but it is entirely doable with them. I used Sabin while getting screenshots for this guide, but I will be providing info for the other characters as well.

Here's a recommended equipment setup for the three required members:
Locke's equipment is variable; the above is for doing any sort of Stealing, but you can also replace the Thief's Bracer with another White Cape for survivability, or go Genji Glove + Gigas Glove with 2x Moonring Blades for some extra damage.

Here are the options for your fourth::

For spells, you need the following at a minimum:

• Imp (Cait Sith) on one character
  
• Float (Cait Sith) on one non-Celes character
  
• Thundara (Ramuh) on Gau

Slow (Siren) is also helpful.

Once you are finally (finally!) prepped, go to Owzer's Mansion in Jidoor to trigger the Opera House sequence, then go to the Opera House itself. Make sure to unequip Celes before entering.

Play the sequence normally, up until you are in the rafters trying to get to Ultros. In previous versions of this challenge you had to avoid all the rats, but with experience gains turned off you can simply fight whatever gets in your way. There aren't really efficient ways of quickly clearing them, but fighting a few 45 second encounters could prove less frustrating than trying to run past them all.

There are two types of rats: Stunners have less HP and are weak to Fire, while Goetia have more HP and are weak to ice. Gau should use the Oversoul Rage, Locke should attack, and your last character should use their relevant ability - Autocrossbow or Drill for Edgar, Aura Cannon for Sabin, and Fang for Cyan.

Once you reach Ultros, you will have your rematch with him.


Have Gau use the Aspiran Rage. You need him land two Gigavolts. No other damage should be needed, so have Locke and your other character focus on keeping Gau alive. The wrinkle is that Ultros has four different positions on the battlefield, and each position has its own pool of 2,550 HP. So you not only need to land the two Gigavolts, you need to land two while Ultros is in the same spot.

If you have Sabin or Cyan, do not use Blitz or Bushido, as Ultros will counter with Acid Rain. Gau will absorb this while in his Aspiran Rage, but it will make your other two characters very vulnerable.

Once Ultros is defeated, watch all the cutscenes, and pick back up on the Southern Continent.

• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.17
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6

You can enter the Airship for a free heal from the left NPC, and an item shop at the right, but you cannot fly around in it yet.

You now have access to four new towns: Albrook, Maranda, Tzen, and Vector. Take a walk around, grabbing items and purchasing equipment upgrades. The priority for purchases must be Reflect Rings from Albrook. You need 4 of them total, so with the one found in Narshe you need to purchase 3.

You should also buy 4x Priest's Miters. Generally the HP and Evasion from Green Berets is better than the MP, Magic Defense, and Magic Evasion from the Miters, and normally if we're fighting magic-heavy enemies then Reflect Rings are in order anyhow, but these hats can help with the very next boss fight.

You can finally pick up extra Hermes Sandals in Tzen. I recommend bringing your total number to 4 so you can equip every character with them in situations where they are called for.

A good general setup for your three required characters is as so:

And for your fourth, they would look like this, depending on the character:

Once you are all kitted out and prepared, go to Vector and enter the Magitek factory.

Proceed as normal through the factory, until you reach the room with Ifrit and Shiva. Equip all your characters with Reflect Rings. Gau should have a the Hero's Ring as his second relic, and your other characters should have White Capes. Equip all you party members with the Priest Miters as well. Finally, make sure that all your non-Gau characters have non-elemental weapons equipped, i.e. not the Flametongue, Icebrand, or Thunderblade. If you don't have non-elemental weapons for them, leave them with no weapon at all. Then, interact with Ifrit to start the fight.



In this fight, you only need to defeat one of the two bosses, but they switch back and forth under certain conditions. Specifically, Ifrit swaps for Shiva if he's damaged 5 times, and Shiva swaps for Ifrit if she is is targeted by a direct player action 5 times.

With Reflect Rings, your party is immune to all the normal spells. Ifrit's Blaze and Shiva's Snowstorm pierce Reflect, hence the Magic Evasion stacking from the Priest's Miters and White Capes. A multi-target Blaze is a game over if it hits all four of your members even with the extra HP from Green Berets, so you may as well hope to dodge it.

Have Gau use the Oversoul rage. This may seem counterintuitive, as Will o' the Wisp will only heal Ifrit, but he's not the actual target. Have your other characters deal damage to Ifrit any way they can. Edgar's physical tools like Autocrossbow and Drill work, as does Sabin's Raging Fist and Cyan's Fang. Locke and Celes will have to use regular attacks, so long as they aren't wielding the Flametongue or Thunder Blade swords you just got in the factory. The actual amount of damage you do is immaterial, so long as it is more than 0 per instance.

Once you've damaged Ifrit 5 times, Shiva will switch in. It might not be right after the 5th attack, as any queued actions still have to be performed, but know that it really does only take 5 instances of damage to make the swap. All your non-Gau characters should stop any targeted actions on Shiva, and focus on keeping the party healed instead. Let Gau use Will 'o the Wisp a few times and Shiva will go down, even while being healed by reflected Blizzard spells.

If you get really unlucky and Shiva targets your entire party with multi-hit Blizzara too many times, Gau may not be able to defeat her before she swaps back for Ifrit. If that happens, have your other characters damage Ifrit 5 times again to bring Shiva back in.

Remember that Gau is undead through all of this, and thus cannot be healed in any way because of his Reflect Ring. To heal him you need to wait for him to be knocked out and revived first.

Grab the two Magicite after the fight, then proceed into the Magitek Research Facility.

• Locke - 5
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.17
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6

Once in the facility, turn on encounters and get into a fight with two Destroyers. Have Gau use the Gobbledygook Rage while the rest of your characters eliminate one of the enemies. Then, just wait and until Gau turns all of your characters Invisible, healing as necessary. Finish the fight once everyone is Invisible, and then turn off encounters again. Heal using items afterward.

With your entire party invisible, approach the next boss.



Immediately cast Imp on the boss. Your party is now completely invincible because of your Invisibility. Use your favourite attacks on him until he goes down.

His rare steal is a Blood Sword, which has +10% Evasion on it and is worth trying for. He does have a common Steal, though, so you may be resetting many times before you get it.

Unequip everything from Celes after the battle, then continue through the facility. Celes will leave during the cutscene (new party average is 6.2).

• Locke - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.2
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6

In the room with Cid and the Save Point, you need to do some prep work.

Your equipment should look like this for Locke and Gau:
*Locke needs the Thief's Bracer instead if you want to steal from the upcoming boss.

And your third character should look like this, depending on who you have:

Equip your third character with the Phantom esper. Make sure that AP gains are set to 4x, and consider turning down the Battle Speed. It doesn't matter what espers you give to Locke and Gau.

Once everything is prepped, talk to Cid to trigger the next sequence.

On the minecarts, you will be forced to take five random encounters along the tracks against Magna Roaders. Have Gau use the Guard Leader Rage to quickly clear them away with Wind Slash. Any spells they cast will be reflected, so you are relatively safe. Have Locke keep everyone topped up with items, and have your third character either heal as well or chip in with damage where they can.

If you don't get enough AP to learn Vanish on your third character, you may want to consider restarting. At 4x AP gains, this will happen if you get a single purple Magna Roader for fights 1 and 3. The next boss isn't impossible without it, but it is considerably easier.


Open the fight by having your third character summon Phantom to make your entire party Invisible, and have a character cast Slow (if you have it) on all parts of the boss. The enemies do have abilities that can still hit you, but it will still mitigate most of the incoming damage. Invisible can be knocked off by Number 128 using Blizzard (33% chance on odd-numbered turns) or Net (33% chance on even-numbered turns), or Left Blade using Shamshir (33% chance on odd numbered turns). If a character gets hit by one of these abilities, have the character who summoned Phantom cast Vanish on them if it was learned. Focus on healing otherwise. If they get hit by Net, do your best to keep them alive with your other characters until they can act again.

Have Gau cast Thundara on Number 128 every turn. If you plan on stealing, count the damage you deal to the boss and stop when you're one Thundara short of the kill.

Have Locke on full-time healing duty using either Hi-Potions or Ethers as required. Make sure that the third character always has enough MP for Vanish (18 MP), and that Gau always has enough for Thundara (22 MP), in that order.

If HP and MP are full and Locke/third character get a turn, I recommend just waiting and reacting rather than trying to pitch in any damage.

The complicating factor is whether you want to steal the Kazekiri from the boss. This decision mostly comes down to whether you want a Strength-based or Magic-based Cyan in a PSG. If you're doing Strength, then you don't need to worry about it. If you're doing Magic, you will want this Kazekiri so that you end up with two of them. An analysis of Magic Cyan is found in Appendix D of this guide.

The good news about trying to Steal is that the boss only has one item, so if you get a success you will get the katana. The bad news is that Locke has only an 8% chance of succeeding on any given Steal attempt even with the Thief's Bracer equipped.

Regardless of what you choose, Gau will need 7 or 8 casts of Thundara to defeat the boss. Focus on the main body, as if both limbs are killed it will cause the boss to start using a number of strong magic attacks that hit through Vanish, plus the limbs will just regenerate anyhow. The fight will take a while, especially if you are Stealing, and it's very possible to lose when you are only one Thundara away, but just be methodical and safe about it and the path to victory becomes fairly reliable.

Once you are done with this fight, save and heal immediately, and prepare for the last fight in this sequence.

• Locke - 5
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.2
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6

After you've healed. saved, and swapped espers, make sure your characters are set up like this:


No specific espers are needed, but you should make sure that every character has the Float status before proceeding.



This fight again revolves around keeping Gau alive long enough for him to take out both enemies. Have him use the Thunder Rod from South Figaro Cave on the Right Crane if you have it, then Rage Anguiform. If you don't have the rod, just have him immediately Rage. He needs a minimum of 4 turns to end the fight, assuming he uses Aqua Breath on every turn. The best case scenario is that he targets the same side with his first two actions, and that he never selects his physical attack.

Have Locke and your third character do everything they can to keep Gau alive that long. That includes delaying their actions so they can heal reactively. If you have Slow, both cranes are vulnerable to it, so try to squeeze that in as well.

Setzer is also in this fight (joins at level 6, new party average is 6.17), but will probably go down quickly as he doesn't have a Reflect Ring. If he gets a turn, either have him heal another character, or try Slots. Don't bother reviving him after he falls, as he is too vulnerable without a Reflect Ring.

If either crane hits a character in their back, they will probably go down, or at best be at very low HP. Any character will also go down to Wrecking Ball (33% chance from either crane on even numbered turns), which is probably the biggest danger of this fight.

If too many lightning spells hit the Left Crane, it will use Gigavolt, which will wipe the party. If too many fire spells hit the Right Crane, it will use Firaga, which will be reflected. The Cranes can also target each other with magic to increase the counter towards these retaliations. They only do this if they've been targeted too many times, so it's generally best to just avoid having anyone but Gau deal any damage.

If the fight goes on too long, the Left Crane will use Magnitude 8. This is why all your characters should start the fight Floating. Realistically, one or two will have lost Float after being knocked out, but as long as someone is still Floating, you can still survive and recover.

If you are really having problems, you can level Locke to 6 with the Bismark esper before the fight using the random encounters around the Save Point. Do the same as you did with Shadow and Celes: turn on experience gains, get into a fight, eliminate most of the enemies, then end the fight with solo Locke. This will give him a bit more HP, so he might be able to survive a regular attack from a crane.

After finally defeating both Cranes, watch all the scenes, leading up to Terra rejoining (joins at level 6, new party average is 6.14).

• Locke - 5
  
• Terra - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.14
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6

This won't be nearly as long as the first interlude on account of now having the Airship, meaning no more Lethe River/Serpent Trench runs to get to the Phantom Forest and Veldt.

To start, make sure you have 30,000 gil, and then head over to Jidoor to pick up Golem and Zona Seeker from the Auction House. If you have another 3,000 gil to spare, you can get Seraph from Tzen. Seraph doesn't teach any spells that aren't already available from other Espers, but it does teach them at faster rates.

Next, new equipment is available in Narshe, so make sure your characters have all their gear up-to-date.

Now, Locke needs to gain a level. For an LLG, he will be averaged up to 6 in the WoR no matter what, so it's better to take a level now when the +2 Strength/Magic espers are available. Note this isn't strictly required for a PSG, and in fact a PSG can even gain a few more levels on Locke or other characters if really desired, but I'm not going to cover those scenarios for simplicity's sake.

For leveling Locke, make him the only member of your party and give him Bismarck (+2 Strength) or Zona Seeker (+2 Magic) - I recommend Bismarck. Land at the desert area near Kohlingen and set Experience gains to 1x, then get into a fight with a lone Fossil Dragon. Toss a Phoenix Down on it for an instant kill, and Locke will gain a single level.


Next, create a party of characters you want to teach magic to and head over to the Phantom Forest to grind AP at the recovery spring. I recommend having Terra and/or Locke learn Vanish (Phantom) and Dispel (Unicorn) at the very least, but it is also doesn't take too long to master all your espers on all the characters you want so you may as well go for that.

After you are satisfied with your magic, head over to the triangle-shaped island in the northeast of the map and encounter an Intangir. You probably won't be able to defeat it, but you only need to have seen the formation for it to appear on the Veldt, so you can just run away.


Head to the Veldt afterward to get its Rage. Its special ability is Transfusion, but we are interested in its immunities instead. It is in Group #27, and you will obviously need to Leap into it.

Finally, if you feel like grinding some gil to buy elemental rods in Thamasa, now is the time. It's not absolutely required, as there is 23,000 gil in the Imperial Observation Post that will be sufficient to complete the Thamasa arc, but you will need more than that to finish the WoB anyhow.

One method of quickly grinding gil is to abuse the 4x boost interaction with the Harvester's counter-steal, as described in the Zozo section. The best 'legit' place to farm money is the desert outside Albrook. The Fossil Dragons here drop 1,870 at base, and can be defeated by throwing a Phoenix Down on them. Make sure everyone has Hermes Sandals equipped, as Fossil Dragons can wipe your party if they get a turn. These fights can also have Bugs in them; have Gau use the Anguiform Rage to take care of them.

Once you are happy with everything, you can continue with the story.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.29
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.17

Form a party of 4 and continue the story, going through the scenes in Narshe, then flying to the Imperial Outpost and through the Cave to the Sealed Gate. Who you pick for your party doesn't really matter, but it must include Terra, and for simplicity I'm going to assume Edgar, Sabin, and Gau as your other three:


There is no boss in this dungeon, so if you keep encounters turned off you won't have to fight anything. There are also no notable Rages here either, so you can just waltz through, collecting all the items. Just be sure not to trigger the fight with the Ninja, as it has a 66% chance of wiping your party with an elemental scroll on any given turn.

After all the cutscenes, you will be asked to make a party of 4. There are some fights during the banquet to get through, and though they're not hard, you're also on a time limit. Again for simplicity, I'm going to be assuming the same party you took to the Cave to the Sealed Gate.

Head to Vector, make a backup save, and start the Banquet sequence. In case you need a refresher on what you need to do:

1. Go one screen south
   
2. Talk to the two Soldiers at the top of the stairs and the two Magitek Soldiers at the bottom (4 soldiers total)
   
3. Go one screen south
   
4. Outside, talk to the two Magitek Soldiers. One will be a battle (6 soldiers total)
   
5. Talk to the lone regular Soldier blocking the exit to the palace (7 soldiers total)
   
6. Head back inside and take the door on the left side to enter the west wing of the palace
   
7. Go in the first door for two treasure chests
   
8. Head up the stairs and enter the next door. Talk to the six soldiers here, one of whom will fight you (13 soldiers total). Also grab the chest here
   
9. Go through the top-left door and talk to (and battle) the Soldier in the bathroom (14 soldiers total)
   
10. Leave the dormitory and go all the way up the stairs, talking to the soldier at the top by the exit (15 soldiers total)
    
11. Exit onto the roof and talk to to the regular and Magitek Soldiers immediately outside (17 soldiers total)
    
12. Go to the upper level and talk to the two Magitek Soldiers (19 soldiers total)
    
13. Go through the door between the two Magitek Soldiers and fight the regular Soldier inside (20 soldiers total)
    
14. Head back outside and down to the lower level. Find and talk to the Magitek Soldier in the bottom right (21 soldiers total)
    
15. Head inside the right door on the lower level, and go down the stairs to the next stairwell
    
16. Descend down one flight of stairs and enter the first door you find Talk to the two soldiers in this room, one of whom is dressed in red (23 soldiers total). Grab the treasure chest as well.
    
17. Exit back to the stairwell, descend another flight, and enter the second door. Talk to the last soldier here (24 soldiers total) and grab the treasure chest.

For the battles, just cast Thundara with whoever gets a turn first. If someone doesn't have magic (e.g. Edgar), use whatever else they have to deal damage.

When you enter the banquet, here are the correct things to do/say to get maximum rewards, up until the break:

1. To our homelands.
   
2. . Leave him in jail.
   
3. That was inexcusable.
   
4. Celes is one of us!
   
5. Why did you start the war?
   
6. I still have a few things to ask.
   
7. Why do you want peace now?
   
8. I still have a few things to ask.
   
9. Why did we have to talk to your men?
   
10. Okay, let's talk about the espers...
    
11. They have gone a bit too far...
    
12. Why did you start the war?
    
13. Take a break

At this point you need to run around the table and talk to any of the four non-Gestahl NPCs, who will challenge you to a fight. You need to beat them within two minutes for max rewards. The 3x Imperial Elite have 700 HP each, are automatically under the effects of Protect, and are weak to poison. So have Gau Rage Trillium, Edgar use Bioblaster (equip Earrings first for best effect), and have Terra and Sabin cast Bio. After the fight, remember to unequip everything off of any character that is not Terra or Locke.

Aftewards, there are only two more answers to give:

1. That your war is truly over.
   
2. Yes.

If everything is done correctly, you will get a Tintinnabulum and Ward Bangle, and you will be told that Imperial forces are withdrawn from Doma and South Figaro, and that the armory in the Imperial Observation Post has been opened for you.

Grab the items from the Imperial Observation Post, then go towards Albrook to start the next leg of the story. Make sure that all your characters except Terra and Locke are unequipped of all their weapons, armor, and relics. If you forgot to do this right after fighting the Imperial Elite, you'll have to trek over to the airship and talk to the NPC inside.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• AVERAGE - 6.29
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.17

Shadow will temporarily rejoin your party after you watch the cutscenes (rejoins at level 6, new party average is 6.25). He won't stay very long, and if you keep encounters off he won't even do any fighting. However, this is your last chance to teach him any magic prior to the Floating Continent. I generally advise against teaching Shadow any magic so that he will only use regular attacks at the Coliseum, but if you are doing a PSG then grinding him up on the Floating Continent will be easier if he knows Break.

At Thamasa, you can now buy elemental rods. The strategies in this guide don't rely too much on breaking these rods, but they are useful for speeding up fights. If you have the money, buy a dozen of each and that will last you the rest of the game. If you are short on cash, at the absolute bare minimum you only need a single Ice Rod for the next boss fight (Flame Eater). If you want to do the faster and riskier strategy with the boss after that (Ultros), three Thunder Rods are needed. And if you want the Typhon + Ultros fight in the Floating Continent approach to be fast, you'll need 7-8 more Ice Rods and 3-4 Flame Rods.

After you sleep in the inn, Shadow will leave your party again (new party average is 6.29), and you will regain control in the Burning Home, with Strago in the party (joins at level 8, new party average is 6.5). Equip your characters like so:

Equip espers to Strago so he can start learning spells. The most immediately useful ones will be Float (Cait Sith), Vanish (Phantom), Rasp (Zona Seeker), and Stop (Golem). You also want someone, not necessarily Strago but preferably someone other than Terra, to know Dispel (Unicorn).

You can try to avoid encounters, but if you don't want the frustration of waiting for the NPCs to move, you can engage them and sweep each fight with Strago's Aqua Breath. This has the benefit of also getting Strago the AP he needs for the spells I mentioned above.

Make sure to get the Ice Rod from the chest in here, especially if you bought only one from the store earlier. At the end, you will fight the next boss. Equip Carbuncle to Locke before you start.



Locke should immediately summon Carbuncle, then heal as needed. Don't bother reviving him if he goes down, which he will if the boss uses Fireball.

Have Strago use Aqua Breath on his first turn to wipe out the Balloons that get summoned, and then hold his turn to do it again if more arrive.

Have Terra use Trance and then break Ice Rods. Two broken Ice Rods plus whatever Aqua Breaths will be more than enough damage to end the fight.

The only danger is if it uses Fireball twice. It has a 66% chance to use it on its second turn, then a 33% chance to use it on its third, if it gets there.

A note about Trance: its timer counts down whenever the ATB is active, meaning that even if Terra selects an action immediately on her turn, her Trance bar will continue to deplete if she has to wait for other combatants to take their turns. To get the most out of Trance, first set your battle mode to Wait. After Terra selects an action, have another character do something that pauses the ATB, e.g. go into the Magic or Item submenu, and wait until Terra takes her action. Alternately, if you know that your other characters (and potentially your enemies) all have actions already queued, do not confirm an action with Terra until after everyone else has acted, staying in a submenu to freeze the ATB gauge. If you do this for every one of Terra's turns, you can get 3+ actions out of a single use of Trance, instead of just 1 or 2. This isn't so important in this fight, but it will come in handy in the future.

You will be treated to more cutscenes after the boss is defeated, after which you can head to the next section.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• AVERAGE - 6.5
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.43

The cave is straightforward. If you didn't have Strago learn any of the spells I suggested in the burning house, you should do so now. The easiest enemies to defeat are the Bonnacons in the first screen, as groups of them will go down to a multitarget cast of Fira. If you Vanish all your characters, you will be invincible to their attacks, plus most of those from the Adamankaries that also appear (though not their Snort counterattack, so use Magic or Lore instead of attacking).

Set up your characters something like this once you reach the room with the statues:

Make sure to equip the Phantom esper to one of your characters. At least two of them should know Vanish, and at least one should know Dispel and Float. If you want to be safe against the boss, at least two of them should know Rasp as well.

When you reach the statues, prepare for the next boss fight.



This fight has a lot of unique mechanics. I'm not going to explain them all here, just the strategies needed to win.

This is a two phase fight. The second phase starts after dealing 11,760 damage to Ultros, which triggers a cutscene where Relm will join the battle. In the second phase, there are two ways to win:

1. Have Relm successfully use Sketch
   
2. Reduce Ultros's HP to 0

There are two strategies for this fight: a fast method that involves breaking multiple rods, and a safe method that requires knowing Rasp on two characters.

Both strategies start by summoning Phantom and casting Slow on him. He still has a 33% chance every other turn of casting Stone, and every 60 seconds he will cast Hailstone. If a character is hit by either of these, revive them if necessary and recast Vanish. Don't bother healing with Hi-Potions, as Stone is a guaranteed KO, and Hailstone can never KO because it deals fractional damage.

For the fast method, have Terra use Trance and start breaking Thunder Rods, using your other characters to heal. After the second rod (6,640 damage threshold) he will cast Haste and Protect on himself, which you should Dispel with Locke or Strago, and recast Slow afterward. After the third broken rod, you will be over the 11,760 threshold. Cast Float and Vanish on Relm after the cutscene, and have her use Sketch every turn. Your other characters should now focus on keeping her alive. Sketch has a 24% chance of success, so it is entirely plausible it will fail five or six times in a row and Ultros will use a big magical ability. If it's Aqua Breath (33% chance), it's a game over no matter what. If it's Magnitude 8 (66% chance), it will miss Relm and be absorbed by your other three characters, so you can recast Vanish and continue trying to Sketch.

For the safe method, have two characters use Rasp to drain Ultros's MP, while the third character uses Ethers. After around 12 casts, he will be out of MP and can no longer harm an Invisible character. Have your characters advance to the front row (or start them there) and start attacking. If you're impatient and have the resources, you can cast magic or break rods. Once Relm arrives, Vanish her as usual, and then have her start using Sketch every turn. Terra, Locke, and Strago can continue attacking, and the fight will eventually end one way or another.

Two final notes. First, Ultros is vulnerable to Stop, so you can make the fight somewhat safer if you have someone who can be dedicated to casting it every few turns. I recommend Strago or Locke if doing the faster method, as Terra won't have enough turns to both cast Stop and break rods during her Trance.

Second, characters that are Floating at the end of the first phase will lose that status when the second phase starts, and that's why I suggested Gaia Gear in the equipment table. You can safely cast Float in the second phase, but you must do so before casting Vanish on them.

After defeating Ultros, Relm will be added to the party (joins at level 6, new party average is 6.44). Finish the dungeon, then watch all the scenes with the espers and Thamasa. Be warned that General Leo will only be level 11 when you are controlling him, and you will have to heal with Hi-Potions during his fight with Kefka. When you finally regain control of your party, you will have access to all your characters, including Celes (rejoins at level 6, new party average is 6.4), as well as the Airship.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• AVERAGE - 6.4
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.33

Once you have the airship again, head back to Narshe to recruit Mog (joins at level 9, new party average is 6.63). Also head over to Doma Castle to get the treasure found there.

Now it is time for the LLG and PSG to split off from each other. An LLG will continue to play the game at these levels, while a PSG can now safely do some levelling to make the approach to the Floating Continent much easier.

I'll be covering the PSG first, as no more special strategies are required to beat the game once all your characters are leveled. I will end my coverage of the PSG at that point, except for the mechanical discussions in the appendices.

After the PSG info, I will pick back up with the LLG at this point and continue the guide until the final boss is beaten.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.64
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

Since Gau can be removed from the party through the Veldt, we can go ahead and level him up now. Doing so will make the following battles very easy.

Form a party with just Gau, making sure he knows Fira (Ifrit or Maduin). Get into an easy fight, and have Gau use Vanish on himself, or summon Phantom if he doesn't know Vanish (or use the Gobbledygook Rage if you have the patience to wait). End the fight while still under the Vanish condition.

Now equip either Bismarck (+2 Strength) or Zona Seeker (+2 Magic) to Gau - I highly recommend Zona Seeker, and I'm going to assume that's what you did for the purposes of this guide. Turn on experience gains to 4x. Head to the Esper Cave and get into a fight on the first screen. The enemy formation will consist of one of the following:

• Bonnacon x5 (5/16)
  
• Adamankary x2 (5/16)
  
• Adamankary + Bonnacon x2 (6/16)

The Bonnacons are weak to Fire, so a multicast of Fira will wipe them out. Adamankaries are not weak to Fire, but two single-target casts should still defeat them. You may have to replenish your MP with an Ether in the battle, but nothing the enemies can do can hurt you. Adamankaries have a 33% chance of using Snort if you physically attack them, but we're casting magic.

You will gain multiple levels per battle for a bit. Take Gau up as high as you want, though remember that you will need to level up every other character to the same level later. You may have to adjust the Experience Boost down to 2x, 1x, or even 0.5x as you get closer to the desired level as to not overshoot. I'm going to assume you are stopping at level 26, as that's the last level every character can get to before Sabin needs a level with Crusader to get 999 MP.

Once you are done leveling, turn off experience gains again, go back to the airship wheel, and choose to go to the Floating Continent. You will be asked to form a party of three. Gau will obviously be in the party, and the other two characters don't matter. I'm just going to assume Mog and Strago for simplicity, as that that's who I recommend bringing in an LLG.


Also equip one of your two non-Gau characters with the Phantom esper.

When the sequence starts, you will have the 'regular' fights first. Simply have Gau use the Guard Leader Rage, as a single Wind Slash will clear the field. Heal Gau between fights. It doesn't matter what you do with your other two characters, you can leave them KO'd if you want, just as long as Gau starts every fight healthy.

After six battles, Ultros will land on the airship. Heal up, including your non-Gau characters, and engage him.



Start by summoning Phantom, just to be safe. This will stop all damage from Ultros. Then have Gau cast Fira. One cast should be enough damage to force Typhon to appear.

Have a character cast Silence on Typhon, and then have Gau cast Blizzara on him twice to end the fight.

The next battle will start immediately.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• Gau - 26
  
• AVERAGE - 8.36
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

Have Gau cast Thundara on the main portion ('Air Force') twice to bring it down. Your other two characters can try to cast buffs on Gau, but it isn't necessary, and they may get KO'd too quickly for that.

When Air Force is defeated, you will land on the Floating Continent.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• Gau - 26
  
• AVERAGE - 8.36
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

DO NOT TALK TO SHADOW YET. He will join you at level 8 instead of level 6 if you talk to him now.

You need to deposit Gau in the Veldt. Work your way through the Floating Continent, picking up the treasure now if you want. For the Gigantos monster-in-a-box, have Gau cast Bio to kill it in one turn. Once you get near the end, you will get the opportunity to jump back to the airship. Do so, then go to the Veldt and use Leap with Gau (new party level is 6.6).

Reform a party to return to the Floating Continent. You need at least one character who knows the Break Spell who is also going to be leveled in the stat that Shadow is not, i.e. if you want to increase Shadow's Strength, you'll need a character who knows Break and for whom you will be boosting Magic. Ideally this character will be level 6 as well, but it's not required.

When you reach the Floating Continent, interact with Shadow to bring him into the party (joins at level 6, new party average is 6.55). Equip him and your Break-casting character with Gaia Gear and whatever else you want - evasion boosting equipment works well. Also equip them with the Stat boosting espers of your choice.

Your remaining two characters don't need any espers, but between the two of them you should have both the Alarm Earring and Gale Hairpin equipped.

Turn experience gains back on to 4x, and AP gains to 0x if you don't want Shadow to learn magic, then get into a fight. All the enemies you can encounter here except Dragons and Ninjas are vulnerable to Break. The Misfits can also be taken out with a Phoenix Down or Holy water.
If you encounter Ninjas or a Dragon, run immediately. You can normally escape from a Dragon before it does too much damage, but the Ninjas can easily wipe a low HP party if they get a turn.

Eliminate all the enemies except one, then knock out the two characters that aren't Shadow and your Break caster. Then finish the fight. Both Shadow and your Break caster will gain multiple levels, and you can heal them up with Sleeping Bags at the Save Point.


Continue to get into fights until both Shadow and your Break caster are at the same level as Gau was.

Once Shadow is leveled up, you've now officially reached the end of the challenge for the PSG. You can now level up all your other characters as you see fit, whether on the Floating Continent or elsewhere. Once all your characters are leveled, you can play the rest of the game, remembering to keep experience gains off until you've recruited everyone again, and holding off any levels past 26 until you have Crusader if you want to max MP. More discussions on all this are found in the Appendices of this guide.

The rest of the walkthrough will return to the LLG route.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.64
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

The approach to the Floating Continent is considerably harder than in a PSG, as you don't have a high-level Gau to auto-win the fights for you.

Before starting, you can head to Thamasa and stock up on Flame and Ice Rods if you didn't do that before. This isn't required, but it does make the Ultros + Typhon fight much faster. Also head over to Figaro Castle with either Edgar or Sabin in your party and stock up on Hi-Potions, Phoenix Downs, and Ethers.

Take some time to learn whatever further magic you want/need on any character, plus any Lores and Dances you want on Strago and Mog.

For your party of three, you will be taking Gau and two others. Gau needs the Guard Leader and Intangir Rages. Having him know Silence (Siren) provides a bit of extra safety as well.

For the other two characters, I recommend Mog and Strago, as they have the highest levels and therefore the most HP. Mog also has good Agility, which is the only other thing that matters. Strago's base Agility isn't great, but he gets +6 from the Chocobo Suit. Both characters should know Silence. Make sure Mog has the Wind Rhapsody Dance as well - you can get it by fighting with him on the Veldt.

If you want to fight Ultima Weapon on your first trip to the Floating Continent, then every character needs to know Rasp (Zona Seeker) as well. If you want to do the entire Floating Continent in one go, you will also need to be able to cast Imp (Cait Sith) and Death (Catoblepas) with one of these characters, or with Celes.

Here's what your equipment should look like:

Equip Mog with the Siren esper.

Make sure you have some spare gear for Shadow if you want to fight Ultima Weapon immediately:

When the sequence starts, you first have to fight six 'random' encounters. You will always be surrounded in these fights, and there are two versions: one with 1x Spitfire and 1x Sky Armor, and the other with 1x Spitfire and 2x Sky Armor. The Spitfires are the dangerous ones, as there is a 33% chance they will use Absolute Zero on their first turn, which is an instant game over.


Immediately have Mog summon Siren, which will Silence all the enemies and stop the Sptifires from using Absolute Zero and the Sky Armors from using Magitek Laser and Missile. He should then use the Wind Rhapsody Dance.

For damage, have Gau use the Guard Leader Rage and Strago use Aqua Breath. If you don't get enough healing from Wind Rhapsody, have Strago heal with whatever is convenient.

Quicksave and heal between each fight. When Ultros appears, put Gau in the front row and change his equipment to Tiger Mask + Power Sash if you have them, plus a Hyper Wrist instead of an Earring (helps in the fight after the next one), switch Mog's esper to Phantom, bump the Battle Speed up as high as possible if it isn't already, and finally heal and quicksave once more. Before proceeding, be sure you are able to keep your game running for several hours, as the fight after Ultros will take a long time.

Approach Ultros to start the next fight.



Open the fight with Mog summoning Phantom. This will make you invincible to anything Ultros can do to you. Have your characters damage Ultros until he summons Typhon. Anything works, but breaking Flame Rods is the fastest option - it will take about 7 to hit the damage threshold. Once Typhon is on the field, have your first character to get an action cast Silence on him to avoid the possibility of Fireball, then focus your damage on him until he goes down. Breaking Ice Rods is the best damage source now - again, about 7 will end the fight.

When Typhon runs out of HP, he will blow all your characters away, and the next fight will start automatically.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.64
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

Have Mog or Strago, whoever gets a turn first, cast Silence on Gau. Once the casting animation starts, select the Intangir Rage with Gau. Do not select the Rage until after the spell casting animation starts, otherwise Gau will go into the Rage and become immune to Silence before the spell can land.

If Gau is both Silenced and using the Intangir Rage, then there is no way to lose. Mog and Strago will go down shortly, but Gau is invincible. The enemies can't do anything to kill him, as all their attacks are either elements that Gau absorbs or are fractional damage which cannot reduce him to 0 HP. Each turn Gau has a 25% chance of using a weak unarmed attack for less than 100 damage to one of the targets, and a 75% chance of attempting to cast Transfusion, which will fail because he is Silenced. Eventually he will deal enough damage to Air Force to finish the fight.

It is very possible for the setup to fail, as Magitek Laser is a KO on any individual character, and Atomic Rays is a party wipe, and there is no way for your Invisible characters to dodge these attacks. Luckily, the fight against Ultros is a guaranteed win, so you just need to reload your quick save and try again.

Once you are set up, it will take a long time to finish the fight. In my latest attempt, it took a little under 2 hours. This is obviously highly variable, and you can see in the screenshot that I didn't have a Tiger Mask (though I doubt that would have made too much of a difference), but it is unlikely to be less than at least an hour.

Once the fight finally ends, you will find yourself on the Floating Continent.

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.64
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

Once you have control again, save ASAP.

Next, decide if you want to fight Ultima Weapon with this party or not. All three characters need to know Rasp (Zona Seeker), and someone should know Slow (Siren). You will also need a good supply of Phoenix Downs and Ethers.

If you can't fight Ultima Weapon (or want to do so with different characters), just run through the dungeon until you get the opportunity to return to the Airship. You can then return to the Floating Continent with the characters you actually want to use.

For the sake of this guide, I'm going to assume you are using Gau, Mog, and Strago anyhow as they are your highest-level characters. Recruit Shadow (joins at level 6, new party average is 6.55), and equip him immediately. Here's what you need for the next boss:

Here's what your equipment should look like:

Make sure Shadow isn't equipped with anything that you will want immediately in the WoR (Hero's Ring, Zephyr Cloak).

There is a monster-in-a-box in one of the chests, Gigantos. It has is easily defeated by summoning Phantom at the start of battle. It's weak to Poison, so casting Bio is the fastest way to victory. It's also susceptible to Instant Death and Petrify, so cast the appropriate spell if you have them.

When you reach the point where you are going to fight Ultima Weapon, first make sure none of your characters are still Invisible, and that one of them has the Zona Seeker esper equipped. Quicksave and start the fight.



This boss has too much HP to get through, plus he has abilities that can't be mitigated when his HP drops below certain thresholds. Luckily, he can also be defeated by reducing his MP to 0. It will still take a long time, but it is doable.

Start by casting Slow, as this is the only debuff that works on him. Then have Gau, Mog, and Strago use Rasp every turn unless they need to heal someone. If Shadow knows Rasp, he can also join in, but if you've been following this guide he probably doesn't know any magic, so have him focus on healing instead. Rasp will average 93 or so MP damage - more from Mog and Strago, less from Gau - so expect to need around 50 casts of Rasp, depending on the number of times the boss casts Flare.

Ultima Weapon will choose between physical attacks (66% chance) or casting Flare (33% chance) on odd number turns, and physical attacks (33% chance), Flare (33% chance), or Blaze (33% chance) on even number turns. Regular attacks and single-target Blaze will KO a character, but Flare will be reflected. Revive fallen characters with Phoenix Downs, and don't bother using Hi-Potions afterward. The biggest danger is multi-target Blaze, which is an instant game-over unless at least one character has Shell and is at full HP.

Do not summon Zona Seeker immediately. Because it's so easy for characters to go down, it is very likely that none of your characters will still have Shell by the time they need it if you summon at the start of the battle. Instead, wait until you have a good run going, then cast Zona Seeker as insurance. Make sure to heal to full HP once Shell is up, otherwise it won't help.

Shadow will leave after the fight (new party averages is 6.6).

• Terra - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Celes - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.64
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

Before you trigger the point of no return, be sure you have everything you need, as you cannot get back to the WoB once you approach the statues.

For general WoR prep I recommend that at least one of Celes, Sabin, Edgar, or Setzer knows Rasp (Zona Seeker), and that Terra knows Bio (Catoblepas).

For specific preparations for the final Floating Continent bit, you'll want a party where at least one character knows Imp (Cait Sith) and Death (Catoblepas).

I'm going to assume Gau, Mog, and Strago again for this sequence:


Also, if you aren't taking Celes in your main party, you should have equipment available for her as well:

Which characters are wearing the Gale Hairpin/Alarm Earring really just depends on who knows the Imp spell; the highest Agility character with Imp/Death should be the one with the Hermes Sandals.

Finally, make sure that all your characters not in your party are unequipped of all items.

Trigger the cutscenes when ready, and when you regain control you have 6 minutes to escape. Celes will be in your party now, so equip her as above.

You will be forced into fights with Naude enemies, even with encounters turned off. These are easily defeated by casting Imp on them. You can defeat them the traditional way by casting Fira/Thundara either through spells or by breaking rods. They also die at 0 MP, so casting Rasp a few times will also defeat them - they have 195 MP.

There is one last boss to fight, which is triggered by interacting with the twinkling light near the end of the escape. Change out your Alarm Earring and Gale Hairpin for either Hermes Sandals (if your characters know Death) or Earrings (if they don't).


If you have Death, reflect it off one of your characters for an instant win.

If you don't have Death, this boss can be defeated by either bouncing Blizzara/Thundara off your characters (rods or spells), or by casting Rasp until its MP is depleted.

After the fight, unequip everything from your non-Celes characters and run to the very end of the land. Do not jump to the Airship. Instead, just wait here until the timer winds all the way down to 5 seconds remaining, when Shadow will appear.

Watch all the cutscenes, and prepare to pick up again in the World of Ruin.

• Celes - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 6

When you regain control of Celes, play through the game normally. You can choose to save Cid or let him die by your preference, as it doesn't affect anything.

When you arrive back at the main continent, the first town is Albrook. There's nothing of note here except an item that wasn't available in the WoB, so you can carry on.

The next town is Tzen. The only notable thing in the shops that Thief's Bracers are purchasable. You will want a second eventually, but you don't have to buy it now.

Sabin can be re-recruited here. Set up Celes something like this if you intend to do any combat:


Proceed into and through the Crumbling House. There are two monster-in-a-box you can fight, each with 4x Nightwalkers. These have low HP and will go down to a multi-cast Fira. However, there is no treasure from either of these, so feel free to skip them if you're not going for the 100% chest achievement.

Once Sabin is in the party (rejoins at level 6, party average remains 6), you can depart. Mobliz is a potential destination, but the Humbaba fight is much easier if saved until later, and the Fenrir magicite isn't needed for anything yet either.

Instead, head to Nikeah. There is equipment in the shops that are upgrades, but most will be replaced by even better items from treasure chests or other shops in short order, and none of it is required for any upcoming fight. The only thing that I absolutely recommend is a single Enhancer, and I'm going to assume that's all you're buying here.

Play through the scenes until you reach South Figaro. Meet with "Gerad" again in the inn, then grab any items you may have left to upgrade in the WoR. There only other notable thing is Diamond Armor from the armor shop, but as with the gear in Nikeah, that is completely optional.

Run to South Figaro Cave, where you can finally open the chests here if you waited. Follow the path through the cave to Figaro Castle, descend below and loot all the treasure. When you reach the Engine Room, equip your characters like so:

If you purchased better gear in Nikeah/South Figaro, you can equip that in lieu of Golden Shield/Gaia Gear.

Interact with "Gerad" to finally trigger the first (mandatory) boss fight of the WoR.


Have Celes and Sabin Defend to start, healing when necessary. With Hermes Sandals and Reflect Rings, only regular attacks can harm them, and those won't pose a danger unless one character gets targeted by several in a row while not Defending.

Edgar will go down quickly, though. Have him use Drill on the top-left tentacle as much as he can, and don't bother reviving him once he falls.

Wait for reflected Poison/Bio to take out three of the tentacles. Once only the top-left one is remaining, hit it with whatever you want to finish the fight.

Edgar will join after the battle (rejoins at level 6, party average remains 6).

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 6

Submerge the castle to go to Kohlingen, then use Edgar's discount at the stores to restock on items.

Head to Kohlingen and re-recruit Setzer (rejoins at level 6, party average remains 6). There are a few more new items in the shop here, but nothing critical.

Head to Darrill's Tomb and loot the entire dungeon. When you come to the monster-in-a-box with the Angler Whelk, equip Hermes Sandals and the Catoblepas esper to Celes. Quicksave before opening.

Summon Catoblepas. It has a chance of instantly killing both parts of the monster, though you only need to defeat one to win the fight.


With all the chests looted, outfit all your characters something like this:
As with the Tentacle fight, if you bought better gear in the last few towns, you can equip that instead of Golden Shields/Gaia Gear/Golden Armor.

Make sure at least one character knows Rasp (Zona Seeker). Also, make sure that the last number of your gil ends in a 4, 5, 7, 8, or 9. If it doesn't, go back to Kohlingen and buy/sell items to manipulate it there. You should have a few less-than-useful relics that sell for 1 gil apiece (Tintinnabulum, Ward Bangle).

Start the boss fight when ready.


Like Ultima Weapon, this boss as too much HP to reasonably get through while handling all its abilities. But also like Ultima Weapon, it dies at 0 MP, and we don't even need to Rasp all that away.

With Reflect Rings, you are immune to all of its damage as long as you don't attack it. It will take a while, but eventually Dullahan will be unable to cast any more spells. At this point cast Rasp to get rid of the last bit of MP it has, and the fight will end.

After all the cutscenes that follow, you will have control of the Falcon, and the WoR is completely open to you.

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• AVERAGE - 6

The world is almost completely explorable now, and anything that is not blocked off by a boss fight or tough monster-in-a-box is easy to pick up. The strategy is to collect as much high-level gear as possible without taking a fight.

Below a summary of each location. I won't do a walkthrough of each place, as there is nothing complicated about running around with encounters off. Just be sure to drop a save every so often in case you accidentally trigger a boss fight or monster-in-a-box.

Mt. Zozo

• Recruit: Cyan (rejoins at level 7)
  
• Items: Red Cap, Ice Shield, Thunder Shield, Aegis Shield, Gold Hairpin
  
• Notes: Must talk to Lola in Maranda first.

Duncan's Cabin

• Notes: Sabin required; learns Phantom Rush

Phoenix Cave

• Recruit: Locke (rejoins at level 6)
  
• Items: Wing Edge, Dragon Horn, Ribbon, Flame Shield, Valiant Knife
  
• Magicite: Phoenix
  
• Notes: Encounter 1x Galypdes + 2x Chaos Dragon formation (1/16 chance on the first floor) for farming Celestriads later

Narshe + Narshe Mines

• Recruit: Mog (rejoins at level 9)
  
• Items: Ragnarok, Cursed Shield, Guard Bracelet, Ribbon, Molulu's Charm
  
• Magicite: (Ragnarok)
  
• Notes: Locke required. Recommend sword over esper for Ragnarok

Cave to the Ancient Castle + Ancient Castle

• Items: Wing Edge, Death Tarot, Punisher, Blizzard Orb, Gold Hairpin
  
• Magicite: Odin
  
• Notes: Two chests skipped to avoid fights

Zone Eater's Belly

• Recruit: Gogo (joins at level 8)
  
• Items: Red Jacket, Genji Armor, Magical Brush, Fake Mustache, Zephyr Cloak, Hero's Ring, Thunder Shield

Cultist's Tower

• Items: Safety Bit, Air Anchor, Genji Shield, Kagenui, Force Armor
  
• Notes: Strago will be recruited later. Last treasure chest skipped to avoid a fight

Kefka's Tower

• Items: Hypno Crown, Fixed Dice, Minerva Bustier, Force Shield, Force Armor, Ribbon, Red Cap, Nutkin Suit, Gauntlet, Hero's Ring, Aegis Shield
  
• Notes: Last four treasure chests skipped to avoid fights

Solitary Island

• Magicite: Quetzalli
  
• Notes: Walkthrough restarts here

Places skipped

• Owzer's Mansion: Contains no useful treasures
  
• Ebot's Rock: Contains no treasure, and cannot be accessed without Strago
  
• Cyan's Dream: One-time visit location with bosses
  
• Veldt + Cave on the Veldt: Will be next stop after Solitary Island

Picking up again at the Solitary Island, use this opportunity to dispel the Cursed Shield. Equip it to someone along with a Ribbon, then get into encounters in the wastelands. The fights will end within a few seconds on their own, and after 256 battles, the shield will be uncursed.

The next destination is the Veldt. Form a party of no more than three characters, then win a fight there. Gau will rejoin afterward (rejoins at level 7).

There are two tasks to complete now:

• Farm Celestriads
  
• Complete the Cave on the Veldt

These can be done in either order, and I'm going to assume you're using the same characters for both, so form a party of Locke, Gogo, Sabin, and Celes (equipped with Ragnarok).

Start taking encounters on the Veldt, until you reach the group before #43 - if you have been keeping encounters to a minimum this will be group #27 with Intangir. Finish this fight with all your characters Invisible. Then equip Locke and Gogo each with a Thief's Bracer (buy a second in Tzen if you haven't already) and give Gogo the Steal command. Equip one character with the Siren esper. When you take the next fight, it will be 1x Galypdes + 2x Chaos Dragons. Summon Siren, then start Stealing from the Galypdes. Locke and Gogo will have a 14% and 18% chance respectively of succeeding on each attempt, and each success has a 12.5% chance of getting a Celestriad. If you get a Phoenix Down, which will happen the other 87.5% of the time, reset. If you get a Celestriad, end the encounter however you want.

Repeat this process until you have four Celestriads. While you're at it, you can start learning Ultima from the Paladin's Shield as well.

A note about Ultima: It is the best damaging spell to cast in almost every circumstance. Therefore, I won't be mentioning it for every fight, but if you see me suggest a damaging spell, know that you can always use Ultima instead.

You can also do the Cave. One chest has a Death Warden monster-in-a-box. Equip someone with Phantom and make your team Invisible, then toss a Phoenix Down on it.

Prior to the boss fight, equip yourself like this:

Gogo's commands should be Blitz, Item, and Magic. You also need at least one character that knows Imp (Cait Sith) and Reflect (Carbuncle).


Cast Imp and Reflect on the boss, in that order, and turn your party Invisible if they aren't already. You are now invincible for as long as Reflect stays up on the boss (~55 seconds). Attack with Celes and use Phantom Rush with Sabin and Gogo. Locke can try to steal, or just attack as well.

When the undead version appears, toss a Phoenix Down on it.

You will be transported to Thamasa. Leave/re-enter to make sure Shadow leaves as well, then go back to the Veldt and pick up any Celestriads you still need. Also be sure to encounter the undead Behemoth King on the Veldt at least once to get one more Behemoth Suit. Once ready, head to the Coliseum.

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Gogo - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.78
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.75

It's time to upgrade some items at the Coliseum. Before heading there, take your still-invisible party that you used to steal Celestriads and head to the forests outside of Jidoor. Get into a fight with the 2x Greater Mantis formation and attempt to Steal from them until you get an Impartisan, which is their only item. This might take a while because the overall success rates for Locke and Gogo are 0.5% and 1% respectively (4%/8% chance to succeed multiplied by 12.5% chance of getting the rare item).

Now form a party of no more than three characters that has Celes and Mog in it - the third character doesn't matter. Head to the Coliseum and quicksave near the NPC who starts the fights.


Shadow only uses physical attacks, and he should go down before Celes does. The biggest problem is Celes choosing to use Runic or Magic instead of attacking

Shadow will join after the fight (rejoins at level 6, new party average is 6.7). Shadow will join even if you lose the fight to him, but that would also mean losing the Ichigeki, which is needed for a couple upcoming fights here.


There's a 75% chance it will bounce Death off of you, allowing you to win.


Another one that just depends on a reflected Death spell.


You will be doing this fight twice as you need two Snow Scarves - one for Gau and one for Mog. Shadow needs to get an instant death proc from his weapon. He should be mostly safe with this setup, and it appears Shadow no longer uses Throw in the Coliseum so you don't have to worry about him Throwing Ragnarok or something.


This will take a while, but you are functionally immune to anything it can do to you, so you just need to wait for Mog chew through all 12,280 HP. It will go faster if you get a couple of reflected Flares, but the enemy only has 100 MP.


This could also take a while, but Mog is again basically immune to everything, taking 1 damage from an attack or Knife. For whatever reason, the Tonberry doesn't seem to use Traveler when it dies, and Break can also take it out. Both of these are changes from previous versions of the game.

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Shadow - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Gogo - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.7
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.67

Form a new party:

Head over to Mobliz, play out the events, and fight the next boss, Humbaba. The first fight will be Terra on her own, and is unwinnable. Following that, you will have control of your main party for the second fight


The HP is misleading, as you only need to deal 7,520 damage to him to make him run.

This is fairly simple with all your advanced gear. You're immune Thundara/Thundaga, and Gau/Mog are functionally immune to his regular attacks/Solar Plexus. 1000 Needles is still obviously a KO.

Have Celes and Mog cast or Bio. Have Gau use the Trillium Rage. Sabin should use Phantom Rush.

After the fight, leave and re-enter Mobliz for more cutscenes. Humbaba will re-emerge, and you will have to fight him again.

Again, the HP is misleading, as you only need to deal 12,640 damage to him to end this fight. This time, he will eject two random characters from the fight. The same strategy of Bio for Celes and Mog, Trillium for Gau, and Phantom Rush for Sabin will work.

Terra will arrive, and you will have one more fight with Humbaba.

This time, you will have to get through all 26,000 HP. You only have three characters now, one being a Tranced Terra. As before, use Bio/Trillium/Phantom Rush until he falls, reviving as necessary. If Terra knows Bio, she can cast that for ~1100 damage, but she can only do that once before needing an Ether.

Once everything is done, Terra will finally rejoin your party (rejoins at level 6, new party average is 6.64)

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Shadow - 6
  
• Terra - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Gogo - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.64
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.6

Head to Jidoor. We're going to go through Owzer's Mansion next, to get the next useful party member. Form a party like so:

Equip Phoenix on Terra so she can start learning Firaga and Reraise.

Before going into the Mansion, go to the Relic Shop and buy Angel Wings until you have 4 total. If you don't have the money, you can wait, but since you're in Jidoor you may as well grab them now if you can.

In the main hall, there is a painting of flowers. Interacting with this will bring you into a fight with Rafflesia, which is possibly the strongest Rage in the game - so strong that I won't be providing strategies with it, but also so strong that I can't not mention it. I'll leave it to you to decide if you want it, but just know that this encounter becomes unavailable once Chadarnook is defeated. They are easily defeated by Fire spells, if you decide to take the fight.


There are a few other forced encounters in this dungeon. In the main room, there is 2x Misty, which are weak to poison. In the room with the floating chests, there is a Still Life that is weak to fire.

If you want the treasure from the four floating chests, they have 1x Blade Dancer and 4x Couerl Cat in them, and those are weak to poison and fire respectively. They only need to be fought if you are going for 100% chests, but they do also provide enough AP to get Terra Firaga and other spells, if you have the 4x boost on.

At the end of the dungeon, it's time to fight the boss.


Cast Fira/Firaga, or break any remaining Fire Rods, on the Demon while it is out, Trancing with Terra to speed things up. When the Goddess comes out, stop attacking. Try to KO anyone who gets hit with Entice, though this may prove difficult with your advanced gear.

Relm will join the party after the battle (joins at level 6, new party average is 6.34).

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Shadow - 6
  
• Terra - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Gogo - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.58
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.55

The next location will be the Cultlist's Tower. Arrange your party like so:

Make sure that at least one character knows Silence (Siren) and Reraise (Phoenix). It also helps if every character knows at least one high-level damaging spell like Firaga (Phoenix). Relm, and maybe Terra, won't know the latter of those yet, but we're about to fix that.

When you walk in, the cutscene with Relm and Strago will play. He'll be recruited (joins at level 8, new party average is 6.69). Then proceed up the tower.

Partway up the tower, you will find the secret room where you found the Air Anchor, the 7F Room. In here the only encounter is with 2x Magic Urn, which provides 5 AP at base (20 boosted). They won't hurt the party, and in fact will heal you instead. You can try to defeat them yourself, but they also have a 33% chance of fleeing every turn, so you will eventually win regardless. Wander around in here to learn whatever magic you need.

Once you are satisfied with your magic loadout, continue up the Tower. At the 26F room, you will find the Holy Dragon.


You are invincible with Reflect Rings, but it will be healed with every reflected Holy. Cast Silence on it to stop that, then defeat it with whatever you like, with Firaga being the strongest option.

You will get a Holy Lance from the fight; equip it to Mog immediately, then continue to the very top of the Tower for the next boss.


Cast Reraise on at least one of your party members (though you have plenty of time to do so on all four). His reflected spells will eventually KO him, and his final Ultima will be neutered by Reraise. You can chip in your own damage by reflecting spells off yourself, but it isn't necessary.

You can leave the Tower with the Soul of Thamasa after your win.

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Shadow - 6
  
• Terra - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Gogo - 8
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.69
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.67

Time to return to Narshe and clean up the bosses there. Outfit your party like this:


Have one character equipped with Phantom. You also need to the spell Berserk (Phantom).

A note about the Soul of Thamasa: generally you want it on your character with the highest Magic, i.e. Relm, however if you are ever going to be using Trance with Terra, you will want her to have it instead.

On the Narshe Cliffs, you will find the Ice Dragon.



It has a 66% chance of leading with Northern Cross. If it goes before your party and it freezes too many characters, consider just resetting.

Once you have a good start to the fight, cast Berserk on it, then summon Phantom. You are now invincible. Cast Bio to start ticking Poison damage, then cast Firaga until it falls.

Once you win, heal at the bucket, then continue up the Cliffs to get to the next boss.




The only damaging abilities it has are ice-based, and all your characters either absorb or are immune. The most annoying part is Rasp, so be prepared to throw a few Ethers. If a character gets Frozen, cast Fire on them to unthaw.

Jump off the cliff into the Yeti's Cave after winning. Equip the newly gained esper to one of your characters to start learning Blizzaga and Thundaga.

In the Cave, there is a monster-in-a-box with Tonberries.

Summon Siren and Phantom to become invincible, then beat them up with whatever you have - like the bosses in this area, they can be poisoned and are weak to fire. The good news is you don't need to get any Minerva Bustiers off of them, because you already have the two you need.

The last boss of this area is at the end of the Cave



Cast Berserk on the boss. You should still be invisible from the Tonberries, so you are once again invincible in a boss fight. If he knocked off your invisibility with Snowstorm, recast Phantom. Finish him off with whatever you want - fire spells are again the strongest, but he is also susceptible to being poisoned

Umaro will join after the battle (joins at level 6, new party average is 6.64).

• Celes - 6
  
• Sabin - 6
  
• Edgar - 6
  
• Setzer - 6
  
• Locke - 6
  
• Shadow - 6
  
• Terra - 6
  
• Relm - 6
  
• Umaro - 6
  
• Cyan - 7
  
• Gau - 7
  
• Gogo - 8
  
• Strago - 8
  
• Mog - 9
  
• AVERAGE - 6.64
  
• AVERAGE (w/o Gau) - 6.61

This is the last time the character level list will be posted, as all characters are now recruited, and none will be gaining any more levels.

Before going to any of these next fights, learn Blizzaga + Thundaga on your characters in the Magic Urn room. Also head to Jidoor and buy Angel Wings until you have 4, if you didn't do that already.

Head back to the Phoenix Cave next. Set up your first party like this:


One character should be equipped with Phantom.

The second party doesn't matter.

Go through the dungeon, and approach the Red Dragon with party #1.


The only abilities it will use on its turn while above a certain HP threshold are fire-based, or Level 4 Flare. It will start casting regular Flare after taking 19,760 damage, so we need to drain its MP first.

Have everyone cast Rasp until it has no more MP, then summon Phantom. The fastest way to end the fight now is to cast Bio once to poison it, then casting Blizzaga until it dies.

Exit the Phoenix Cave and reform your party:


You will need a character that knows Sleep (Siren). Head to the Auction House and flip the switch to get onto the stage.




Immediately cast Sleep on it, then start casting your strongest spells. Recast Sleep with the next available character every time it wears off - you can tell because there will be a special animation. You can avoid counterattacks by not confirming a spell until the previous one resolves, to check if the tapir animation plays.

In case it does get a turn, you are immune to its special abilities. Its regular/counter attacks will still KO anyone who isn't Mog, but you should be able to Sleep it immediately after and recover your downed character.

After the fight, rearrange your party like so:


Everyone should know Reraise (Phoenix).

Before heading to Mt. Zozo, get into an encounter where you can KO everyone except Mog and then escape from/finish the battle. Revive your downed characters with Raise or a Phoenix Down, but don't heal their HP.

Release the Storm Dragon on Mt. Zozo for the last fight in this section.


This boss has an ability that can hit the entire party and cannot be avoided, blocked, or prevented: Leaf Swirl. There is a 33% chance of seeing this on odd-numbered turns above a certain HP threshold, and it will wipe your party.

On top of that, its regular attacks will also KO any character that doesn't have max defence. This is the reason why Mog has the Paladin's Shield and a Knight's Code: he will intercept every attack. This Knight lockout strategy will see a lot of use for the rest of the guide.

Open the fight by having everyone cast Reraise on themselves to protect against Leaf Swirl. Then have everyone start casting Thundaga. Have Terra Trance for extra potency. If you see a Leaf Swirl, have everyone cast Reraise on themselves again once they are revived and then continue your assault.

When he gets below 15,360 HP (i.e. deal 26,640 damage), then you will eliminate the danger of Leaf Swirl. At that point, it could use Cyclonic, which will put every character at 1/16 of their max HP, but that doesn't matter as no one can take any lethal damage.

Form a party that is Cyan + three others. One of those three must be Gau or Mog, and the other two should be Terra and Celes. At least one non-Cyan character should know Dispel (Unicorn). Blizzaga + Thundaga (Valigarmanda), Esuna (Lakshmi), and Break + Death (Catoblepas) are also useful.

Go to Doma Castle, enter the dormitory, and choose to sleep. After the cutscene you will be transported into Cyan's dreamscape.

After collecting your party, approach the door with the barriers around it, but don't enter yet. Instead, get into an encounter and bring Terra and Celes to critical health. Then set up your characters like this:


Approach the door for the battle.


Your equipment will nullify the elemental spells and status abilities, and Mog will cover physical attacks.

Target Curlax (top) first, as he will revive the others. Blizzaga from Terra/Celes will deal about 1800 to him, meaning around 9 casts to bring him down.

Next is Laragorn (back), who is vulnerable to Death.

Last is Moebius, who doesn't have an elemental weakness, so just use your strongest non-thunder spell. Make sure to Dispel first if he has Shell. Blizzaga will deal around 750 damage, so it will take a while. You can also drain his MP at around around 65 per Rasp. I'm not sure which method would be faster, but you are completely safe no matter which you choose.

If at any point the one you are targeting gets the Reflect status, cast Dispel.

Once they have been felled, continue through the dungeon. When you reach the cave portion, be sure to encounter the Io enemy, as it is the last useful Rage to pick up. There is a 6/16 chance on each Cave screen that an encounter will be a single Io.


At the end of all the dungeon portions, you will find the second boss of this area. Bring Terra and Celes to critical HP again, and then equip yourself:



The old strategy of using Banish on the two Soul Savers does not work in the Pixel Remaster.

Once Wrexsoul disappears from the fight, you need to incapacitate the character he's possessed, and there is no indication of which one he's chosen. This is why Terra and Celes have no shields, so that it is easier to hit them with spells. Start casting Break on your characters until Wrexsoul reappears. Heal your Petrified characters, then attack him with Blizzaga. He has very high Magic Defence, so he will only be taking ~500 damage per spell. When uses Fury again, repeat the process of casting Break on your characters.

After regaining control, reform a party with Gau and head to the Veldt. Here is a final list of notable Rages:

• Io - Group #18; Flare Star
  
• Rafflesia - Group #37; Entice

The only one that will be used in any strategies is Io, as Flare Star is an ability that scales on your enemy's level and will be supremely useful in the endgame gauntlet of bosses.

Rafflesia is there as a failsafe, for if you really can't beat a boss using the strategies in this guide. As I mentioned in the Owzer's mansion section, Rafflesia is the strongest Rage in the game, as the Entice effect persists indefinitely, and works on every enemy, including the final boss.

Once you have all the Rages you want, proceed to the Ancient Castle.

Form your party:

Gau needs the Aspiran Rage. You will also need the Confuse (Cait Sith) and Sleep (Siren) spells. Bio (Catoblepas) is very useful, and Rasp (Zona Seeker) is optional.

Head to the Ancient Castle. The first boss is a monster-in-a-box in the cave leading to the Castle.


Cast Sleep, then Bio on it. Then you can either just nuke it down with Blizzaga, or Rasp away all its MP then summon Phantom to be completely safe. As with the Earth Dragon, recast Sleep every time it is woken up by the tapir.

The next boss is another monster-in-a-box, in the Castle itself, in the left-hand room when entered from the outside.


There is a 33% chance that it will use a Water Scroll on its first turn, which will wipe everyone except your Paladin Shield user. I'd just reset if that happens.

Cast Confuse as soon as you can; if you're having problem, give Gau Hermes Sandals instead of a Hero's Ring.

When it attacks itself, cast Confuse with another character. Once you are in a rhythm, start weaving damaging spells in: have a character cast Confuse, then have another queue a damaging spell while the Confuse animation is playing, and have a third hold its action to cast Confuse again once the boss attacks itself again. Your first damaging spell should be Bio, followed by Blizzaga.

Descend into the basement of the castle for the final boss in this area, but before fighting it we need an equipment swap:



This fight starts with the boss using Tsunami, which will knock out Relm unless she dodges. Don't bother resurrecting her, as she isn't needed for this fight.

Instead, have Gau use the Aspiran Rage. With his high Defence he will be invincible, and you can just wait for him to finish it on his own. Cast Bio once with one of your other characters to make it go faster, then just wait.

Note that the image I used is from an older version of the strategy that involved letting Gau get hit by Tsunami and resurrecting him. This works, but isn't necessary, as you can just give him the Paladin's Shield to make him absorb it instead. Relm doesn't lose anything by ending the fight KO'd.

Claim the Raiden esper. It teaches the Quick spell, which is very powerful with Celestriads in play. As with Ultima, I won't be giving strategies to use it, with one exception late in the game where I couldn't find a reliable strategy without it. Just know that whenever you spend a character's turn casting spells going forward, you can do so in conjunction with Quick to be even more effective.

Head back to the surface for the next section.

We're going to hunt Death Gaze now, while we still have Gau in the party. Here's the setup:


If you want the the process to go faster, go to Thamasa and buy a stack of Holy Rods - 5 or 6 should do it. If you're doing that, swap out the Celestriads for Earrings.

Fly around until you meet Death Gaze - in this version there is a dark graphic on the screen denoting where he is.


Have Gau use the Io Rage, which will deal 9,999 damage. You can have your other characters cast Firaga, or break Holy Rods if you bought them, as if you can deal 5,560 damage between the four of them you will reduce the number of Flare Stars needed by one. If you can somehow deal 15,559 damage between the three of them it will reduce the number of Flare Stars Gau has to cast by two.

It has a high chance of fleeing on its third turn, but the damage you do to it carries over in every encounter.

Revive, heal, and save in between fights. It takes six castings of Flare Star to kill it if you don't deal any damage with other characters, so you should win in three encounters or less.

Now, form a party that includes Strago. Head back to the Cultist's Tower one last time and teach him some magic. Float (Quetzalli), Quake (Midgardsormr), and Reraise (Phoenix) are the key spells.

After you're satisfied, put Strago and Relm in a party with Gau or Mog and Terra or Celes (I'll assume Mog and Terra)

Head to Thamasa, watch all the cutscenes, then go to Ebot's Rock just to the north. Collect the coral, feed it to the chest, then equip your party like so:


Get everyone except Mog into critical health, and cast Float on everyone.

Approach Hidon to start the fight.


If you don't care about learning the Grand Delta Lore, just throw a Phoenix Down at Hidon to finish the fight immediately.

If you do want to learn Grand Delta, the fight isn't that much more complicated. Immediately cast Reraise on everyone, then start using Quake to clear away all the Erebus. If a character gets hit by counter Poison from Hidon, their Reraise will trigger early, so recast that (and Float) on them right away.

Once the Erebus are gone, Hidon will use Grand Delta, KOing your entire team. Reraise will trigger, and then you can toss a Phoenix Down on Hidon.

Prepare yourself before approaching the tower.

First, make sure you have all the magic you need on your best characters - Terra, Celes, Relm, Mog, and Gau. If you want to get Strago's other missable Lore, you will also want to learn magic with him. Also make sure Gau has the Io Rage, and any others you may want.

Make sure you're also full up on consumables. Most can be bought at half price from Figaro Castle if you have Edgar or Sabin with you. Holy Waters and Sleeping Bags need to be bought in Kohlingen nearby at full price. Finally, head to Thamasa and buy as many Holy Rods as you can afford. Around 30 will help you speed through the two bosses that are weak to Holy, but extras can help against any boss that isn't immune.

Enter the tower when ready. Put Terra, Celes, Relm, and Gau (or Mog, but I'm assuming Gau for simplicity) in Party #3, any whomever you want in the other two teams. Proceed through the dungeon with Party #3 until you reach the room with the first boss. Get your three non-Gau members into critical HP, then equip them like this:



Terra and Gau are mostly safe, only in danger from Shockwave and Delta Attack, while Celes is somewhat vulnerable to Metal Cutter as well. Relm is vulnerable to anything that isn't a physical attack, and will probably go down shortly. Don't bother reviving her.

Have Terra Trance, then start wailing away with Thundaga, the idea being to finish the fight quickly, before Shockwave can be used. Ignore the arms, just focus on bringing Inferno down as quickly as possible. You can also cast Slowga to give yourself a bit more breathing room.

Proceed through the dungeon until you find the Skull Dragon. Equipment:


Everyone but Gau should still be at critical health. If you bought Holy Rods and want to use them to make this fight faster, use Hero's Rings instead of Celestriads.

Approach to start the fight.



You are be immune to everything except Doom. If someone gets Doomed, cast Reraise on them.

If you are using Hero's Rings + Holy Rods, they will deal 3,400+ damage per rod from Terra/Celes/Relm (just have Gau Defend), so you will need 9 or 10 rods. If you aren't using those, use Firaga for 1,600 to 1,800 a cast.

Once the dragon is slain, continue until the 3-party switch puzzle. Run the other two groups through, ignoring Ultima Buster and Gold Dragon with Party #2. When it comes time to do the switch, remember that you want Party #3 to be the last one to move, so that they can fight Guardian.



Another fight where you're racing against time. You don't want to see the Ultima program as Meteor is a wipe. So cast Slow, have Terra Trance, and have everyone use Thundaga. If you're fast, and manipulate Terra's Trance effectively, you can end the fight around the time the Dadaluma program starts.

During the Ultros program, a multi-target Tentacle is the worst thing to see, as it will take out everyone except Gau. You may want to just reset if you see it. Anything else is single target, which is easily revived (don't use Arise unless its Gau). If it casts Entwine, counter with Hastega.

During the Dadaluma program, you don't need to worry about multi-target hits, so revive anyone who goes down.

During the Air Force program you should be completely safe except Relm, so just let her stay downed and have your other characters deal damage.

During the Ultima program, just focus on reviving characters and casting Reraise until the program ends. Hopefully you don't see Meteor.

After Guardian is destroyed, carry on to face the first of the warring Triad.



The first character who gets a turn should cast Stop. After that, revive anyone who went down, then cast Reraise on everyone. Start attacking with Flare, and when Stop wears off, recast it. One way to check if Stop has worn off without exposing yourself too much is to not queue up your spells, and instead wait for a character to finish casting to see if the boss counters or gets a turn. When it gets actions, Reraise should mitigate the worst possible event (3 characters dropping from Metal Cutter).

Once you deal 25,360 the battle becomes safer, as he will cast spells that can be more easily avoided/nullified. Don't bother keeping him Stopped anymore, but do keep Reraise up just in case your evasion fails. You may want to just sacrifice Relm, as she doesn't have the elemental immunities of the other characters - this is also why Soul of Thamasa is on Terra and not her.

Once the boss is defeated, cast Teleport to leave the Tower.

Re-enter the tower. Your party new party will contain Terra, Celes, and either Gau or Mog (I'll assume Gau again). Your last character will be either Relm or Strago, depending on if you want to learn Force Field from Fiend. This is the only place in the game to get this Lore, so you'll have to bring Strago if you're doing some sort of completion run in addition to an LLG. I'm going to assume Strago is in the party, as it doesn't make the fight any harder than if using Relm.

When you pick your parties, put your strong characters in Party #1 this time:


If you bought Holy Rods, replace the Celestriads/Soul of Thamasa with Earrings.

Proceed through the dungeon, again ignoring Ultima Buster and Gold Dragon with Party #2.

When you come to the switch puzzle again, you want your main team to end up on the left side, so they can progress along that wing and get to Fiend. Make sure all your characters except Gau are at critical health, then start the fight.


You are immune to damage. Cast Holy, or break Holy Rods if you have them. It will take around 16 Holy Rods to deplete Fiend's HP.

If anyone gets frozen, cast Fire on them - note that this will heal Strago, which will bring him out of critical status and thus render him vulnerable to physical attacks. You may just want to KO with something instead.

Partway through the fight it will buff itself ("Fiend's aura is trembling violently!"), so cast Dispel on it.

It will start casting Force Field towards the end of the fight. Hopefully it doesn't pick Holy damage; if it does you'll have to resort to casting Flare.

Once Fiend is defeated, Teleport out of the Tower again. Reform your party one last time, putting your strong characters of Terra, Celes, Relm, and Gau in Party #2. You can fill out the other two parties with whomever you want, as long as Mog is in one of them.

Once in the tower again, head to Ultima Buster with Party #2.

Get your non-Gau characters into critical health before the next fight.


Terra, Celes, and Gau are immune to everything in the first phase, but Relm will go down if targeted by a damaging spell. Don't bother reviving her if she does. If anyone gets frozen by Northern Cross, cast Fire on them. Otherwise, cast Slow on it, cast Reraise on Gau, and then have everyone attack with Blizzaga.

Eventually he will start charging Ultima ("A strange light surrounds Ultima"). Have Gau use the Io Rage and have the others continue their assault with Blizzaga. After Ultima goes off, Gau will be resurrected, so have him him recast Reraise on himself in case of Meteor, then go back into the Io Rage. He will finish the fight on his own.

Continue through the tower with Team #2, until you reach the Gold Dragon. Here's the equipment setup:


One character needs to be equipped with the Phantom esper.


Cast Berserk on the boss, then summon Phantom. You are now invincible, so finish the fight with whatever you want. The fastest way is to have Gau use the Io Rage, and everyone else cast Flare.

Once the last dragon is slain and the Crusader esper is in your hands, go through the dungeon once again until the switch puzzle. This time have your strong party end up on the right side. Down this passage is the penultimate boss.



Cast Reraise on everyone to start, then attack with Flare to deal damage. Relm is vulnerable to lightning attacks, so her Reraise may need refreshing if she ever eats a thunder spell. Celes has the Soul of Thamasa so that Relm doesn't have to face two chances at a counter attack per turn.

If a character gets slept, attack them to try to wake them up. If they get hit with Entice, you'll have to KO them somehow.

Eventually she will cast Cloudy Heaven, which will put a 20 second Doom timer on Celes and Gau. At any point after this, if a character gets KO'd, they will instantly revive as a Zombie unless they are immune to that status, so you will need to use a Holy Water on them. Always cure Gau first so he can return to intercepting attacks.

After Cloudy Heaven, you need make Reraise a priority on Relm and Terra, as Quasar will wipe the party otherwise - she has a 66% chance of using it every 4th turn. If that happens, your priorities are curing Gau, curing Celes, then getting Reraise back on Terra and Relm.

This will be a long fight, but as long as you're methodical about keeping Reraise up and curing Zombie, it's not too dangerous.

Save your game at one of the save points, then equip your party:


All characters should start Floating. Both Terra and Celes should still be at critical health, and one of them should have the Fenrir esper equipped. There are a bunch of spells that are used here, but the only one not used before is Quick (Raiden), which must be on Gau and should also be on Terra and Celes.



Immediately cast Break or Death on the Long Arm (B) and Slow on the Short Arm (A). Then, cast Hastega on your entire party, and Float if you didn't start with it. You are now ready to actually attack.

Have Gau use the Io Rage, as he will be your main damage dealer, while the other three characters are support. Terra and Celes can chip in with Flare on the Short Arm if they don't need to do anything else. Mog doesn't have a Celestriad and so can't contribute with spells as easily, so you can just have him Defend.

Make sure everyone is alive for the transition - they should be, as nothing here can hurt you.


Machine (E) can be taken out immediately by casting Death, and Magic (F) can be neutered with Silence. This reduces the number of threats by 50% on the very first turn. You can also cast Slow on Power (G).

Tiger (D) and Magic (F) can be poisoned, so cast Bio on it at the earliest opportunity. The bulk of your damage will still be coming from Gau's Io Rage, but you can focus down Tiger with Bilzzaga first before switching to Flare for Power, leaving Magic for last.

If Mog and Gau are in the front row from Reverse Polarity in the previous part, have them move to the back at some point. Terra and Celes don't need to worry about this.

Once again, make sure everyone is alive for the transition.

This is the longest portion, because to even start dealing damage you must Rasp away all of Lady's (I) 10,000 MP at around 49 MP per cast. And to be absolutely safe, you can also Rasp away Rest's (H) 10,000 MP as well. All that will take around 35 minutes, even using Autobattle.

Lady herself is not dangerous. Rest will alternate between using Tornado/Meltdown/Nothing (33% chance of each) on odd numbered turns and Attack (66% chance) or Doom (33% chance) on even numbered turns. Doom is the only thing that than affect you. Keep Reraise up on Mog, and have him use a Phoenix down on whoever else Doom takes down.

There are two ways to approach this: a safe strategy and a fast(er) strategy.

The safe strategy is to Rasp all 20,000 combined MP. If you decide to do this, I recommend targeting Rest first, so you can stop Doom from interrupting you. Once all the MP is gone, you can take out both enemies. First buff all your characters: summon Fenrir, then make sure everyone has Haste and Reraise. Then focus down Lady with Flare. Finally, have Gau use the Io Rage to take down Rest. Make sure everyone has full MP when the fight ends.

The fast strategy is to only Rasp away Lady's MP, then take her out with Flare. You can then assault Rest without taking out his MP. He will start casting Meteor every turn once he falls below 10,240 HP (29,760 damage dealt), as well as a countering with it 33% of the time, so don't go below that number without preparing. Keep careful track of his HP (he is immune to Libra, so you'll have to do so manually) and stop all damage when you get close to 10,240. Then have Gau use the Io Rage and Terra use Trance. Two Flare Stars and maybe some chip damage (break any Holy Rods you have left) will bring it down. During this last blitz, make sure to keep Reraise up on as many characters as possible, and make sure to summon Fenrir before he goes down.

Rest will cast Repose on death, and cast it twice 33% of the time. This will KO one of your characters and force the fifth character in your order to swap in unless they evade or you have Reraise up. Image from Fenrir will block this, and in the freak chance that Image is consumed and he casts it a second time on the same character, Reraise will save them.


This is an involved fight, because your characters can go down constantly, and there's not much that can be done about it besides keeping Reraise up as much as possible.

He will open by dropping the HP of all your characters to 1. You don't need to heal as anything he does at this stage will either deal 0 damage or KO your characters anyhow.

During the first stage he will use a combination of physical attacks, -aga spells, and Trine, which your Ribbons negate. The only danger is Thundaga (33% on his 7th turn) as Mog is not immune to Thunder damage.

After dealing 29,360 damage, he will enter Phase 2. He will start charging Forsaken, which will go off on his second turn. This will KO your entire party and trigger their Reraises. Immediately recast Reraise and Hastega afterward, using Quick to get double turns - this will also allow Gau to use a spell and then Rage. Kefka will stop casting -aga spells, but now he has the Vengeance ability, which erases positive statuses like Reraise. Every 4th turn he will be using Forsaken again.

After dealing 54,320 damage, he will enter his third phase. In this phase, he only does three things: charge Forsaken, cast Forsaken, and then cast Meteor. This is the most dangerous part, as sometimes he is fast enough to get Meteor off before you get a chance to recast Reraise.

His counterattacks are on different phases than his attack patterns. He starts with no counters, and will start countering after you deal 31,920 damage to him, either with physical attacks (33% chance) or an ability called Hyperdrive (33% chance). The physical attack is fine as Mog will catch it, but Hyperdrive will KO a character if it connects. After dealing 51,760 damage, he will still counter with physical attacks (33% chance) but also Ultima (33% chance). Obviously Ultima will wipe the party and require another round of Reraises.

He will also never counter while charging Forsaken, for what it's worth.

Have Gau use the Io Rage, which will deal 5,680 damage. You need 11 casts of Flare Star to win. I don't recommend dealing damage with anyone else, as Flare Star alone will produce a very predictable battle, and that is more valuable than speed. After 6 casts, you hit the threshold for both Phase 2 and his first counterattacks. After 9 casts you will enter his second counter phase (i.e. Ultima), and after 10 casts you will enter Phase 3 of the fight. Gau's very weak physical attack won't affect the numbers unless he does a whole bunch of them.

Start leaving Reraise off of characters as the battle proceeds, first Celes, then Mog, and finally Terra. The ultimate goal is that only Gau has Reraise up after the 10th Flare Star. This seems counter-intuitive, but there's a weird issue where ATB bars start filling after the second Reraise animation goes off. I've found Kefka was always able to get his Meteor turn before any of my characters could act if I had to watch more than a single Reraise animation.

After a Phase 3 Forsaken, have Gau use Quick to cast Reraise on himself and then Rage. If he picks Flare Star, you win. If he doesn't, you'll eat a Meteor and will have to do the Quick/Reraise/Rage combo again.

Hopefully every lined up for you, because it isn't fun to fail when you are one Flare Star away from winning, and then have to do the 45+ minutes of previous battles again.

If you made it, congratulations, you've beaten the game with the lowest possible levels.

This is the last optional boss, and it's actually anticlimactic.

First, you need a Megalixir. One was dropped from the Magic Master, and one was found in a chest in Kefka's Tower, so you probably have at least one.

If you've already used both, you will have to Steal one off the Land Rays that are found in the deserts on the southern continent. Wear a Gale Hairpin on a character and hope for a first strike; you have around a 10% chance of succeeding on every Steal, and you will get one chance to Steal if you get a first strike. Casting Stop doesn't appear to work in this version, as Sap will tick while the casting animation is playing, even on the slowest Battle Speed.

With a Megalixir in hand, make a party with Gogo and whoever else you want. Set all of Gogo's commands to Tools, then sell all your Tools except Noiseblaster.


If Gogo gets a turn first, or dodges Siegried's first attack, they will use Noiseblaster and Confuse Siegfried. As long as Gogo keeps getting turns before before Siegfried, they will eventually win. It may still take a few tries if the ATB bars don't line up properly, or if Gogo chooses to do a physical attack, which can sometimes happen somehow.

FFVI has a particular way of scaling its characters. Every time a character levels up, they gain a bit of HP and MP. In fact, every character gains the exact same amount of HP and MP at any particular level - e.g. both Sabin and Relm will gain 65 HP and 16 MP when the go from level 19 to level 20.

Furthermore, characters do not gain any points in Strength, Agility, Stamina, or Magic when they level up. These stats will remain static unless raised by leveling up with certain espers equipped. Here is a list of all the espers that modify stats on level up:
*In previous versions of the game, Alexander gave no stat boosts
**In previous versions of the game, Odin gave +1 Agility instead of +2
***In previous versions of the game, Raiden gave +2 Strength instead of +2 Agility.
****In previous versions of the game, Quetzalli gave no stat boosts

For example, Sabin has 28 Magic at base. If he has the Zona Seeker esper equipped when he gains a level, he will gain +2 Magic and his new base will be 30.

Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Magic all cap at 128, but that includes equipment, so characters do not need to go all the way to 128 through leveling. Characters also do not have enough level ups to maximize every stat, so the player has to decide what to focus on. I'll discuss these more in the last portion of this guide, but a general rule is Magic and/or Strength > Agility > Stamina.

HP and MP are different, as they don't get static boosts from espers, instead getting a percentage boost of the base gains for that level. Using another example, Sabin normally gains 100 HP when he levels from 30 to 31. If he has the Bahumut esper equipped when he gains the level, he will gain 150 HP instead.

HP caps at 9999 and MP caps at 999, and every character gets the same amount of HP and MP at any particular level. Due to this, some characters will reach 999 MP naturally, and none will reach 9999 HP. The player must then also decide if they want to also maximize HP and/or MP, though they don't need to make that decision until the halfway point of the game.

Below is another chart, with the natural HP and MP of each of the 12 playable characters who can use espers (i.e. everyone except Umaro and Gogo):
All info was taken from this very handy web page[masterzed.cavesofnarshe.com]. This page also shows how much HP and MP is gained for any level up. One can see that HP gains are highest at levels 69-70-71, while MP gains are highest at levels 14-15-16-17, noting that the Pixel Remaster uses the FFA/FF6j formula and not that FF3us.

For HP maxing purposes, each character needs to equip the Bahumut esper for 3 levels, and the most obvious choice is 69-70-71. Other sets of levels will work, but those are the easiest ones, and there's no compelling reason not to pick those.

For MP maxing purposes, it is limited by the character with the lowest MP, Sabin. He must level with the Crusader esper before reaching level 27, as he needs 7 extra MP, and the level from 26 to 27 is the last one where 14 or more MP is gained. Due to the way level averaging for the party works (more on that in the next section), this dictates how high one can level their characters in the World of Balance.

Now, let's move on an discuss the other part of leveling in this game: level averaging.

The compounding factor of an LLG/PSG, and why just keeping experience gains at 0x won't work on its own, is level averaging.

Whenever a character joins your party for the first time, their starting level is based on the party's average level, plus an adjustment. For example, Terra starts at level 3. Locke has an adjustment of +2, so he joins at whatever Terra's level is +2 (5 for an LLG). Edgar has +2 as well, so with the average of Terra (3) and Locke (5) being 4, he will join at level 6.

This average always rounds down. The average the levels of Terra (3), Locke (5), and Edgar (6) is 4.67, which is rounded down to 4. So when Sabin joins with his +2 adjustment, he will do so at level 6.

Characters can also be automatically leveled if they ever leave the party for story reasons an then return later. If they left the party at a lower level than the party average is when they rejoin, then will be automatically brought up to the party average. The most obvious character this affects is Shadow, but also Terra and Celes in the World of Balance, and every non-Celes character in the World of Ruin.

I won't show all the mathematics, but this means that the following characters will be forced to level up in an LLG/PSG during the WoB:

• Terra, from 3 to 6, when she rejoins after completing the Magitek Facility
  
• Shadow, from 5 to 6, when he rejoins after the Imperial Banquet
  
• Celes, from 5 to 6, when she rejoins after completing Thamasa

As much as possible, we want to take these levels ourselves in the normal way by gaining EXP, with an esper equipped. For Terra, there's nothing that can be done, as she leaves before espers are available. For Celes and Shadow, they can be leveled after the events in Zozo using the lesser +1 Magic Cait Sith esper, as their forced level up will happen before any +2 espers are available for them to equip.

Every character except Celes is also removed from the party at the start of the WoR, and just like as above, their level will be averaged up when they are re-recruited. This first means that we have to be careful about when we recruit certain characters in the WoR, but it also means that one particular character, Locke, will always be averaged up in an LLG, from 5 to 6. This means that at some point in the WoB, Locke needs to gain a single level. This is ideally done after getting the airship, when the +2 Strength and Magic espers are available.

Gau also presents a unique case, as his level will not be factored into the average if he is on the Veldt when characters are (re)recruited. In previous versions, this was used to put most of the forced experience gains onto him and then Leaping him away at convenient points. With experience gains turned off in the PR, he only needs to be Leaped for one recruitment, and that is for Shadow, after completing Zozo.

The Floating Continent is the first time that the player has access both to all 12 characters and +2 Strength/Magic boosting espers. If maxing MP, characters are leveled to 26 (not level 25, to avoid susceptibility to Lv. 5 Death), and experience gains aren't turned back on until Crusader is acquired. If MP isn't a concern, then the characters can be brought to whatever level, so long as they are all the same.

Once all the characters are re-acquired back in the World of Ruin, along with the remaining espers, they can can be leveled to whatever the player desires.

First, let's examine what each statistic does:

• Strength - Increases the damage of physical attacks. This primarily means the Attack command, and also modified versions of it like Mug and Jump. It also includes certain Tools, certain Blitzes, Throw when used with weapons, and any physical ability used by a Rage.
  
• Agility - Increases the rate at which a character's ATB gauge fills.
  
• Stamina - Increases resistance to most instant death attacks, increases the amount of healing received from the Regen status and the Tintinnabulum relic, and increases the damage taken from the Poison status.
  
• Magic - Increases the damage of magical attacks. This primarily means spells cast using the Magic command, but also any spells that proc from weapon attacks (e.g. Holy from Lightbringer). It also includes all Lores, all Slot outcomes, certain Tools, certain Blitzes, Throw when used with elemental scrolls, and any magical magical ability used by a Rage.

Characters generally want Strength and/or Magic before Agility and Stamina. This is because Strength and Magic have a much larger effect on your characters' performance than the other two stats. You will always see higher damage numbers when these two stats are raised, up to the damage cap of course, so long as you raise the appropriate one for the action you want the character to perform.

On the other hand, Stamina is almost worthless to raise. The few instant death attacks that you could be worried about can be mitigated in other ways, and the other effects are essentially meaningless, or even detrimental.

Agility is in an odd place, where it seem at first to be strong, but the mechanics of the ATB system hold it back. The issue is that ATB bars continue to fill while combatants take their turns. This means that it is possible for a character to take an action and then have their ATB bar fill again while waiting for the animations of other characters' actions to complete. This is especially true at faster battle speeds, and when combatants use abilities with long animations. The most useful thing about high Agility is that it increases the chance a character will act first. That said, some characters really don't need both Strength and Magic, so there's nothing lost by raising Agility once their appropriate stat is maxed.

As was said in Appendix A, the cap for all four of these stats is 128, but this also factors in equipment, i.e. if you bring a character's Magic up to 128 and then equip Lightbringer with its +7 Magic, their final Magic stat will still be 128 and not 135.

Regarding HP and MP maxing, I believe it's a purely aesthetic choice. If you like seeing 9,999 HP and 999 MP, then level with the Crusader esper from 26 to 27 with the appropriate characters, and level with the Bahamut esper from 68 to 71 on all characters. But the difference is negligible, as the extra HP and MP will not be a deciding factor in beating the game's hardest battles.

For character-specific advice in Appendix D, I'm going to recommend what to focus on first, as that will have the largest effect on how the game is played. If your characters have already maxed Strength or Magic and are moving on to something else, then you are already well past the point of being strong enough to beat the game, and anything further boosts are, again, purely for aesthetics.

Finally, remember that spellcasting is very overpowered in this game, and any character can be strong by boosting their Magic and having them cast spells. This guide will focus on some things that are unique to particular characters, even if just boosting Magic and casting Ultima would be theoretically stronger.

Because Gau can be leveled before anyone else, he will be the first to be discussed.

Gau can easily go for either Magic or Strength, with benefits to both.

Magic gives Gau more flexibility and is heavily favoured, as it first allows Gau to cast spells instead of Rage, retaining the player's control over him during battle. It also boosts the very wide array of special magical abilities that are provided by most Rages in the game. This is even more desirable in the Pixel Remaster, where the chance of doing a special attack was boosted from 50% to 75%. This is the path I assumed you picked in my guide.

However, one can also focus on Strength and make exclusive use of the few physical special abilities. 99% of the time this is just Stray Cat, but there is a short list of others that, while not providing an attack as strong as Cat Scratch, do come with useful immunities and statuses (e.g. Bogy has a x2 power move and has auto-Protect).

Next is Shadow, because he needs to be leveled before before everyone except Gau.

Shadow can be an effective attacker or spellcaster in equal measure. His Throw command is a basic attack that deals double base damage and ignores defence when throwing a weapon (and you obviously lose the weapon too), but is a magical spell when throwing scrolls. Shadow also has a 33 base Magic, which is noticeably higher than other characters you expect to be non-magical like Locke and Edgar.

I would favour Strength first, but Shadow doesn't need max Strength to hit the damage cap with Throw, especially if you farm Pinwheels or Impartisans, so he can be a hybrid Strength/Magic character just as easily.

The initial inclination would be to boost Magic, as Terra's magical ability is literally the plot of the game. But consider that Terra has access to the best weapons in the game, like Ultima Weapon and Lightbringer, and some of the other characters who can use those weapons have other options. Also consider that if Terra really needs to hit something hard with spells, she can Trance. A Tranced Terra with Magic-boosting equipment using an -aga spell against an elemental weakness will be hitting close to the damage cap even without leveling her Magic.

So Terra benefits from both Strength and Magic. It does come down to preference, but I like boosting Strength first.

Locke has no means of dealing damage outside his weapon attacks and any spells you teach him, and his base stats don't favour spellcasting. He also gets sole access to the very strong Valiant Knife weapon, as well as access to other top-tier weapons like Lightbringer, Ragnarok, Excalibur, and Ultima Weapon. Therefore, there's no reason to focus on anything other than Strength.

All of Edgar's best Tools use Strength. A few use Magic (Bioblaster, Flash) but those aren't as good as the others. Late-game Edgar is also probably doing a Jump setup (Dragoon Boots + Dragon Horn), which also uses Strength. There's no compelling reason to pick Magic with him.

Somewhat counter-intuitively, Sabin should focus on Magic. He doesn't have great weapon selection, and all his best Blitzes are magical attacks. Phantom Rush can hit the damage cap even without boosting Magic, but it will help with the damage of Rising Phoenix and Razor Gale, which completely shred most random encounters.

As with Terra, Celes benefits from both Strength and Magic, as she has the same equipment set. She doesn't have Trance to juice her magic damage in tough fights, though, and early in the World of Ruin, when she is alone or with limited party members, she will benefit more from having stronger spells than stronger physical attacks.

As with Terra, it comes down to preference, but I prefer Magic.

Another somewhat counter-intuitive situation, Cyan also has to pick between Strength and Magic.

Strength seems obvious, as it increases the damage of his regular attacks and his more useful Bushido commands, like Fang, Flurry, and Tempest. But even buffed as it is in the Pixel Remaster, Bushido isn't great. Higher level abilities just takes too long to charge, to the point that regular attacks might deal more damage in the long run. Normally this would involve boosting Strength anyway, but there is another option.

One of Cyan's mid-range katanas, Kazekiri, has a 50% chance of replacing a regular attack with Wind Slash, which is a magical effect. Therefore, Cyan can also deal a lot of damage by boosting Magic and attacking multiple times with this weapon (Genji Glove and/or Master's Scroll). Also, some Bushidos are actually magical: Sky, Dragon, and Eclipse.

So the choice comes down to having a Cyan who does good damage with high-end weapon attacks and some Bushido abilities, or doing good damage with Kazekiri Wind Slashes, magical spells, and some other Bushido abilities. Which you choose will probably come down to how much you can stomach watching the Wind Slash animation, as that can get tedious, and also whether you want to drag out the Number 128 fight to steal the second Kazekiri.

Setzer has no use for Strength, and should therefore focus on Magic. His best weapon (Fixed Dice) ignores Strength, and his Slot results are all magical abilities.

All Lores are magic abilities, and Strago does not have access to any strong attacking weapons. There's no reason not to focus on Magic.

As with her grandpa, Relm has no strong attacking weapons. She doesn't have Lore, but she also has the highest base Magic, so there's no reason not to focus on that.

The effects of Dance are all magical, but Dance has extremely limited usefulness. Mog does have higher Magic than Strength at base, but he's also able to do a Dragoon setup, so long-term its best to focus on Strength.

I hope I've covered enough to allow any player to attempt an LLG or PSG in the Pixel Remaster. If you have any corrections (I'm sure I flubbed something), or have alternate strategies than the ones included here, please comment and I will make the changes.

Here is a list of major resources I used to compile this:

• Low Level FAQ on GameFAQs by Lufia_Maxim[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] - Used to form the backbone of the boss strategies.
  
• Algorithms FAQ on GameFAQs by Terii_senshi[gamefaqs.gamespot.com] - Used for verifying battle calculations.
  
• The Gau Bible on Steam by Bamethyst38 - Used for verifying all things related to Gau and his Rages.
  
• Final Fantasy VI Guide by Game Corner Guides[guides.gamercorner.net] - Used for looking up enemy formations and other data.
  
• Final Fantasy Wiki at Fandom[finalfantasy.fandom.com] - Used to for looking up miscellaneous game data.
  
• FF3 HP/MP Level Gain List on Caves of Narshe by Master ZED[masterzed.cavesofnarshe.com] - Used for HP and MP calculations for perfect stats.