~~~~~~~~ "Lufia and the Fortress of Doom" Boss Strategies ~~~~~~~~
Author: Blair Stephens
e-mail:
[email protected]
These are tips and strategies for the boss enemies in the game "Lufia and
the Fortress of Doom" on the SNES. I found it to be a pretty easy game, so
you shouldn't have too much trouble. There are basic fighting strategies
that should be used in all of the battles, such as restoring your HP and MP
before the fight and healing your characters when their HP isn't very high.
You may use the information in this document on a website but please credit
me for it. This stuff IS copyrighted, you know. And feel free to e-mail me
with any questions or comments. I'm always glad to help another gamer.
-GADES, AMON, ERIM, DAOS (Fortress of Doom)
You will fight these four, one at a time, during a prologue in the
beginning. They should be fairly easy because your characters will have very
high levels as well as powerful weapons and magic. Remember to make use of
Selan's Thunder spell, which is highly effective against all the sinistrals
except Erim. Mmmm… extra crispy….. Err, anyway, if someone is low on HP
during one of the battles then have Artea cast Valor, otherwise just attack
with him or cast Mirror or Trick. Erim might use Mirror on herself, but you
shouldn't be casting magic on Erim anyway since she is virtually immune to
magic damage. Gades doesn't use magic - you only need to worry about
physical attacks. The Mirror spell is very useful against the other three.
And oh yeah, be sure to restore everyone's HP between each battle!
-GADES (Sheran)
This is the only battle in the game that you're not supposed to win, so
don't sweat it. He'll let you hit him a few times and then finish you off in
one blow. After that, the game continues on as normal.
-DEMON LORDS (Treck)
After returning from the east cave, you will find two men by the docks.
Use the inn and save your game before talking to Aguro; the green-haired
person. Shortly after starting a conversation with Aguro, a group of
monsters will arrive and you will have to fight them. The four Demon Lords
are tough, but Aguro will lend a hand in the fight. Hopefully you've found
the short sword where Guy lives and equipped it on the main character. The
Demon Lords know Mirror, Dew, and Strong. If all your characters have high
HP and none of the Demons have Mirror on them, go ahead and use Dew (Flash
is better after some of them start dying), but usually Lufia should be
casting strong on your characters while the other two attack. Your main
character may even need to use Strong if the situation becomes desperate.
Keep trying and you'll soon succeed.
-GOBLINS (Cave north of Treck)
When you approach the ship just outside of the cave three Goblins will
attack you, so make sure your party is at full HP. You can prepare for the
fight by gaining experience in the cave near the tiles that restore your HP
and MP. The Goblins are pretty strong, with approximately 130 HP each. They
will only use physical attacks, but they can take off up to 20 HP with each
attack. Use a similar strategy that you did with the Demon Lords; Lufia
should heal your party members while the other two attack. If everyone has
plenty of HP then use Dew or Flash. Use Flash instead of Dew if there are
less than three Goblins (even with three I still prefer Flash) Make sure
Lufia is in the back row.
-APPRENTICE (Northwest Tower)
This is a difficult battle because it is fought with only your main
character. The Apprentice has around 250 HP and his attacks can do up to 30
points of damage to your character. He knows Jolt, which is a stronger
version of his normal attack, and to make matters worse, his agility is
really high. Keep attacking him, but when your HP is low enough so that two
of his attacks may kill you, cast strong or splurge with a hi potion. It's
very important to heal if your HP gets within this range because he often
gets in a couple of attacks to your one. If you really wanna pummel him, use
the mid arrows found behind his chamber. He'll use potions when his HP is
low.
-PHANTASM (Ghost Cave)
Stock up on a few shrieks before going into the Ghost Cave. Also, before
this fight make sure the Ghost Ring found in the cave is equipped on either
Aguro or your character. I prefer Aguro. The ring will increase the damage
dealt from his attacks. To further increase the damage, have Lufia cast
Drain at the beginning of the fight, but remember the effects of Drain
slowly fade as the battle progresses. Lufia should also use Shield on Aguro
if she's not too busy healing your characters with Stronger. The only thing
that makes this battle potentially dangerous is the Phantasm's ability to
confuse your characters. If a character becomes confused, use a shriek or
attack the character with Lufia.
-FOLLOWER (North Tower)
Lufia's powerful attack magic makes this battle pretty easy. Equip the
Flash Ring, found in the tower, on Lufia before the fight. If you don't have
the Flash Ring then make sure you get it, because it's one of the more
important items in the game. Continually cast Bolt on the Follower while the
other two attack. If you haven't learned Bolt yet, then Flash will suffice.
The Follower's Frost magic can do some fast damage to your characters, so
have your main character or Lufia (whoever's doing less damage) ready with
the Stronger spell. Drowsy will also be occasionally cast, but Lufia should
know the spell Awaken by now.
-DARK GHOST (Red Tower)
If you are having trouble with the Dark Ghost, fall off the top of the
tower and save your game in Ruan after clearing the tower out. This way, you
won't have to get all the treasures again if you're defeated. At least go
back and save after getting the treasures in the basement with the marsh,
because you need to walk back by the entrance anyway. For some reason, the
Ghost Ring is ineffective for this battle, so don't equip it. The Dark
Ghost's Water spell can do around 40 points of damage to your characters, so
you might want to use Magic Guards, Shield or Protect if you know it. Just
remember that these spells fade over time. He also has something called
Ectoplasm that, if hits, will drain a most of the MP from one of your
characters. Use our favourite Bolt + Flash Ring combo to take huge chunks
out of the Dark Ghost's HP (makes the battle a whole lot easier!) but don't
forget about the importance of healing. Boost every so often will help
counter his Water spells. If MP permits, always go for Boost instead of
Stronger during this battle. Also, use Jerin and the hero for most of the
healing if possible while Lufia hammers away with Bolt. Equip the Water ring
on one of your characters (Aguro is a good choice) to reduce the damage that
character takes from the frequently cast Water spells. The Dark Ghost is
vulnerable to fire magic, so Jerin casting Flame or Spark with the Flame
Ring may be a good idea, but I was healing so much with her that I never did
this. The important thing here is to keep healing as much as possible. All
your characters should be at least level 20.
-GUARDIAN (Tower of Light)
This should be an easy battle. In fact, it was so easy I accidentally
killed him before I could really learn anything about his abilities. Sorry
about that. Use Mirror a lot if you know it, and maybe Lufia's Protect if
his Flame or Blizzard spells are bothering you. He likes to cast Absorb a
lot. Oh, and I saw him use Dread once. Keep attacking and healing and he
goes down fast. I guess Jerin could use some power gourds on the fighters if
you wanted to.
-PIRATES (Aisen Tower)
These are the four guys who'll attack you if you mess up the order on
the switches in front of the door. The best idea is simply to avoid them by
opening the door on the first attempt. The order is upper left, lower right,
lower left, upper right.
-BOSUN, PIRATES (Aisen Tower)
Pirates is the fat armored guy and Bosun is the normal looking pirate,
though I suspect this is a mistake in the game and that the names should be
reversed. Kill Bosun (the small guy) first - don't worry about Pirates until
Bosun is defeated. Bosun has around 1250 HP. Both of these guys love to use
a lot of items, such as bombs and various types of arrows. Bosun likes to
use a lot of potions. They also know Dubious, which raises their stats. The
only magic you need to worry about is Roar and Foul, both cast by Pirates.
They are just Confuse and Fright with different names. If one of your
characters is confused or asleep and it's getting in the way of the fight,
use the appropriate item to cure them, with the character who's pulling the
least weight of course. Also, attacking with Jerin's bow can cure everybody
at once, but be careful about the damage it does. Jerin should use Boost
whenever any of your characters have taken considerable damage. Her Boost
spell is learned at level 32. When she's not healing, Jerin could use
Blizzard or Glacier with the Frost Ring if both enemies are there, or use
power gourds on your two attackers if only Pirates remains. And of course
Lufia's Bolt + Flash Ring is always highly effective. Remember to kill Bosun
first!
-OIL DRAGON (Oil Cave)
This guy doesn't go down easy. He has a high amount of HP, and his fire
attacks can do some heavy damage to your characters. Cast Mirror on all the
characters, starting with whomever has the lowest MGR. The Oil Dragon can
cast Mirror, so remember that while you use Lufia's Flash Ring +
Bolt/Thunder. Thunder is learned at level 41. Besides Mirror, Jerin should
also be using Boost or Valor a lot. You should make sure Jerin and Lufia
have a lot of MP before going into this fight. The Dragon Ring (found in the
Oil Cave) doesn't seem to have an effect in this fight for some reason, so
don't bother with it. If all your characters have a high HP, most of them
have Mirror, and you're looking for something to do with Jerin, cast Glacier
on the Oil Dragon.
-NAZEBY (Glasdar Tower)
This is a fairly hard battle, and it's not one that you want to lose
after the time and effort it took getting to the top of Glasdar Tower. This
dude has 5600 HP, so be prepared for a long battle. Make absolutely certain
you equip Lufia with the Flash Ring before the fight. As soon as you're at
the top of Glasdar Tower, equip the Flash Ring before taking another step.
This is important not only for this battle but for later in the game as
well. Also, use items to refill all your HP and MP, especially if you missed
the refill circles in the tower. Nazeby knows virtually every attack spell
there is. He'll cast spells such as Blast, Spark, Frost, Bolt, and Dew at
the beginning of the battle, switch to second level spells such as Flame,
Blizzard, and Water after taking a bit of damage, and move up to stronger
spells such as Vulcan, Flood, Glacier, and Succumb after taking a lot of
damage. He uses Succumb fairly often, but not often enough to warrant using
Gloom Guards, in my opinion. He also has an attack called Mace that, if
successful, kills one of your characters instantly. Jerin and your main
character should've learned Rally by now, a spell that revives like Dead but
restores all HP at the same time. Jerin should be using Mirror on everybody,
and continually casting it during the fight. Make sure everyone always has a
mirror on them. If HP becomes low, have your main character cast Valor,
since Jerin will be casting either Mirror on alive characters or Rally on
dead ones. Lufia should be be using her Thunder spell while your frontline
characters attack. If Jerin dies, revive her immediately. Use the hero's
Rally spell if he knows it. By the way, Nazeby has been known to cast Mirror
- albeit rather infrequently. If he uses it, have Lufia either heal or use
power gourds on your attackers until it fades.
-GADES (Fortress of Doom)
Gades is unchanged from the time you fought him with Maxim and company
at the beginning, but the fight will be harder this time around because you
only have 3 characters and their levels will probably be lower. He will do 1
of 3 things during his turn; attack, use Destroy (a stronger version of his
attack) or use Undead, which raises his attack power. Every time he uses
Undead, counter by casting Courage with the hero, and starting the fight by
casting Courage might be a good idea although I didn't find it necessary.
Keep your characters at full strength with Jerin's Champion or Valor spells.
Otherwise she should cast Trick on Aguro and the hero or Rally if a
character happens to fall in battle. After beating Gades, restore your HP
and also your MP if you need to.
-AMON (Fortress of Doom)
Amon uses powerful spells such as Sunder, so keep Jerin casting those
Mirror spells. Amon knows Chaos, which confuses your characters, but this is
also blocked by Mirror. He also knows something called Melancholy. To this
day I have no idea what Melancholy does. The Mirror spells still remain
intact. My guess is that it nullifies the effects of stat altering spells
like Drain and Protect. If Jerin keeps using Mirror and Valor while Aguro
and your character keep attacking, you shouldn't have a problem beating
Amon. If for some reason you're struggling you can use the hero's Valor
spell to heal so that Jerin can keep casting Mirror. If one of your
characters becomes confused, use a shriek on that character. Did you know
Amon is a male??? I had always thought he was a woman until I played Lufia
II: Rise of the Sinistrals. Lufia II is a great game. Anyway, after beating
Amon it's possible to walk away and leave the Fortress of Doom to save your
game, but not after beating Daos.
-DAOS (Fortress of Doom)
Like the other sinistrals, Daos is the same as at the beginning of the
game. As with Amon, use Mirror to reflect his spells such as Flood, Glacier,
and Thunder, and also those really annoying spells like Dread and Amnesia
(it's satisfying to watch him get hit with his own Dread spell four times in
a row). Amnesia looks like Succumb but it only paralyzes, and it doesn't
seem to hit very often either. He uses physical attacks occasionally as
well. This isn't a very difficult fight unless he keeps hitting your party
with powerful attack spells. Handle him basically the same way as Amon.
He'll use Stronger if he's running low on HP, which is almost like a free
turn for your characters since you should be doing much more damage per
round than what he recovers. He has maybe around 4400 HP. Try to make sure
your party has high HP and MP before finishing him off because there's no
opportunity to heal before the battle with the last boss.
-GUARD DAOS (Fortress of Doom)
This is the final boss and your last challenge in the game, and he's not
easy. Each turn he gets he'll do one of only two different things; cast
Flood or cast Figual. These are really the only attacks he needs. His Flood
spell is very powerful. Figual hits each member in your group and will
either miss or confuse the character (very annoying). Both of these attacks
can be blocked by Mirror, meaning the Mirror spell will be extremely
important in this battle. Jerin should be casting it pretty much every
chance she gets (unless a Valor is really needed and your main character is
confused), and you should make sure she always has a Mirror on herself
because if she becomes confused she can't continue to cast Mirror on the
other characters, which spells trouble. Shrieks may be necessary at times.
Also, a trick that might come in handy is to attack your party with Jerin's
bow if a lot of them are confused and their HP isn't low, in order to
restore everyone at once. For this reason, equip Jerin with her original
Elven Bow before battling the sinistral Daos since it will do less damage to
your characters and you should never use Jerin to attack anyway (get it back
at the Isle of Forfeit if you've sold it). Lufia joins you for this battle,
but you will not get to mess around with her equipment before the fight.
Hopefully she is still wearing the Flash Ring from back in the Glasdar
Tower, because if so her Thunder spell will make this battle a great deal
easier. Usually, Lufia should be casting Thunder (up to 500 points of
damage!), Aguro should be attacking, Jerin should be casting Mirror, and
your red headed character should be attacking (or healing if needed). As
characters become confused this may change of course. After you deal around
6600 points of damage you'll win the fight and beat the game. Congrats!
