Final Fantasy I/II Advance - Final Fantasy I Soul Of Chaos Boss FAQ
by: transience
written: 6/12/2004
version: 1.0

Introduction:

FF1 Advance (or Dawn of Souls, if you prefer) has, as you probably know,
four optional dungeons, termed the Soul of Chaos. These dungeons consist of
random floors, followed by a boss from a previous/future Final Fantasy,
depending on how you want to look at it. This FAQ is to help you defeat
these bosses.

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Copyright:

Get this: I wrote this thing. I'd prefer it if it stayed that way. Thanks.
This should only be posted at GameFAQs. If you want to use it for your
own site, send me an email.

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Version History:

0.5 - Did the Earth and Fire Shrine section.

1.0 - Finished the guide; added new strategies.

Table of Contents:

I.) Things to know

II.) Earth Shrine
a.) Echidna
b.) Cerberus
c.) 2-Headed Dragon
d.) Ahriman

III.) Fire Shrine
a.) Scarmigurion
b.) Cagnazzo
c.) ValValis
d.) Rubicante

IV.) Water Shrine
a.) Gilgamesh
b.) Atomos
c.) Omega
d.) Shinryu

V.) Air Shrine
a.) Chupon
b.) Ultros
c.) Phantom Train
d.) Deathgaze

VI.) End

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I.) Things to know

- First of all, how do you access the Soul of Chaos dungeons? You can enter
the shrines at any point in the game, but in order to actually enter the
dungeon, you need to defeat the fiend that corresponds with each dungeon.
Here's a list of where they all are:

Earth Shrine - Northwest of Cornelia (prerequisite: must have defeated Lich)

Fire Shrine - one of the holes in the dragon islands (prerequisite: must have
defeated Malarith/Kary)

Water Shrine - whirlpool east of Melmond (prerequisite: must have defeated
Kraken; must enter via ship)

Air Shrine - north of the ice cave (must have defeated
Tiamat; only accessible by canoe)

- Secondly, the floors are at random, but not randomly generated. What this
means is that you have no idea what floor will come next, though they will
all come eventually. For this reason, exit and teleport won't work. You can
save anywhere in the dungeon, and dying is not game over.

- How long are the dungeons?

Earth: 5 floors
Fire: 10 floors
Water: 20 floors
Air: 40 floors

- It should be mentioned that, with the exception of the Air dungeon, you
cannot fight all the bosses in one trip. You'll need four trips for the
Earth dungeon (yes, that means four times of doing the annoying floor with
the million enemies on-screen), and twice for the Fire and Water dungeon.

- What's the most important spell in the game when dealing with SOC bosses?
Temper, the level 2 black magic spell. Temper ups your strength by something
like ten points. Temper stacks, so casting it over and over will turn any
character into a killing machine. I've gotten a red mage to do upwards of
10,000 damage using temper. Also, when you get to the Sea Shrine, you'll find
an item called the Giant's Gloves, which casts Saber when used in battle.
Saber the spell isn't so great because only a black mage / wizard can cast it
on themselves, but with the Giant's Gloves, whoever uses it can cast it on
themselves. Find this item. It's on the second floor.

- After buying the fairy from the Caravan, you can go back there and buy
in-battle status-up drinks. I don't use them a lot, but they do help
occasionally, and you might not know about them.

- Not everyone will be using the same party, so adjust your strategies. I've
done the Soul of Chaos bosses with a knight/monk/white/black, with a
thief/red/white/black, and with a solo red. I'd definitely suggest having a
white mage for the harder SOC bosses, and having a red/black mage is also
very helpful, if for nothing else besides Temper. After that, it's up to you.

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II.) Earth Shrine

Ahh, good old FF3. When you reach the fifth floor, you get four choices of
boss: Cerberus, 2 headed dragon, Echidna, and Ahriman. My advice is to hold
off on Echidna and Ahriman until after you've gotten the Airship, since they
have death attacks. The other two? Very beatable, even on low levels.

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A.) Echidna

HP: 4800
Attack: 50
Accuracy: 50
Defense: 50
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 30
Evasion: 1
Magic Defense: 70
Treasure: X-Potion
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Lightning, Time, Paralysis, Darkness, Silence, Mind, Fire,
Ice, Stone, Poison, Sleep, Confusion, Death

Suggested Level: 30+

Strategy: Echidna is a death machine. Both Death and Earthquake will do
instant death to one character and the whole party, respectively. I've
seen Echidna do Flare, which is brutal, but I've only seen that once. Other
than that, Echidna is absolutely a piece of cake. Its physical attack won't
likely top 100 damage, and only its instant death attacks stop you from
killing it straight after Lich. Once you get the airship, hit Gaia and
buy some protect rings to offer some resistance to death. Protect rings
don't seem to give full resistance, but it's better than having
Earthquake kill three of your dudes outright. To do damage, haste and
temper your life away.

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B.) Cerberus

HP: 4000
Attack: 40
Accuracy: 60
Defense: 50
Agility: 50
Intelligence: 40
Evasion: 50
Magic Defense: 60
Treasure: Kotetsu
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Lightning, Time, Paralysis, Darkness, Silence, Mind, Fire,
Ice, Stone, Poison, Sleep, Confusion, Death

Suggested Level: 25+

Strategy: Cerberus utilizes two attacks. One is a physical attack that doesn't
do much (maybe 150 to a weak character) and his Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt can
do 300 damage to all your characters, essentially killing a lower level party.
Be sure to grab Nulshock from Provoka for this fight. Cast Nulshock on your
first turn, cast Temper and Haste on your strongest character, and hope that
he doesn't do Thunderbolt over and over. I find healara to be a lifesaver in
this battle. Heal spells are so much more useful now that intelligence governs
healing. Anyway, if you're having problems, get a couple of levels and try
again. He's not too hard. If his physical attack is annoying you, slowra might
cut the damage a little.

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C.) Ahriman

HP: 5000
Attack: 60
Accuracy: 65
Defense: 50
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 50
Evasion: 25
Magic Defense: 100
Treasure: Dry Ether (Megaelixir in chest)
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Lightning, Time, Paralysis, Darkness, Silence, Mind, Fire,
Ice, Stone, Poison, Sleep, Confusion, Death

Suggested Level: 30+

Strategy: Probably the hardest of the four FF3 fiends, Ahriman is a
combination of Cerberus and Echidna. Ahriman will do Blaze, which does the
same kind of ugly damage that Cerberus's Thunderbolt did. Be sure to have
Nulblaze for this fight. Ahriman also does Earthquake, so you'll want
protect rings to up your resistance to death. His other attacks are his
physical attack, which is survivable (hits harder than Echidna's, but not
as hard as 2-Headed Dragon's; maybe 150 to a weak character) and Cura,
which heals him for like 200. Once you've got your Nulblaze cast, temper
and haste your best attacker and do your best to keep him alive. If
Earthquake kills someone, phoenix down and do your best to keep them alive.
Once you've tempered enough, he'll go down in a couple of hits.

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D.) 2-Headed dragon

HP:  4500
Attack: 60
Accuracy: 50
Defense: 50
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 10
Evasion: 30
Magic Defense: 50
Treasure: Bard's Tunic
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Lightning, Time, Paralysis, Darkness, Silence, Mind, Fire,
Ice, Stone, Poison, Sleep, Confusion, Death

Suggested Level: 20+

Strategy: 2-headed Dragon's Physical Attack (which is all he does) can
absolutely maul you on low levels, doing upwards of 500 damage. This, of
course, is enough to one-hit you. However, he has one sexy weakness: slow.
Be sure to buy Slowra in Melmond and hit him a couple of times with it. His
damage will drop considerably, with him missing some of the time. Once his
attack has been tamed, Temper your strongest character, use haste, and start
mauling him back. He'll go down in a few rounds. Thanks to Animalspawn for
the Slowra strategy.

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III.) Fire Shrine

I like the fire dungeon - the lava lets you walk without getting into
encounters, and the overworld level totally rules. Boss-wise, on floor
5 you can fight one of two bosses, and the same for level 10. Behind
Rubicante is the elusive fourth ribbon, so be sure to get that if you can.
Three of the four bosses use special attacks that you can't cast Nul-
spells on, so ribbons (which halve special attack damage) are very
helpful, almost necessary. I've beaten all four bosses without ribbons
and under Level 35 (for Scarmiglione, I had the one ribbon that
Rubicante drops), but it's definitely not recommended.

A.) Scarmiglione (form 1)

HP: 4000
Attack: 19
Accuracy: 50
Defense: 10
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 160
Evasion: 10
Magic Defense: 160
Treasure: none
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Stone, Death, Time, Poison

A1.) Scarmiglione (form 2)

HP: 7046
Attack: 46
Accuracy: 40
Defense: 20
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 100
Evasion: 10
Magic Defense: 140
Treasure: Lunar Curtain
Weaknesses: Fire, Dia
Resistances: Quake, Time, Poison, Ice, Stone, Death

Suggested Level: 40+

Strategy: Form 1 is pretty much a joke - he'll do Thunder to one character,
which hits for about 250 and can be halved with Nulshock. Just pound away
like usual. Form 2, however, is nasty. Poison Gas can hit for like 500 to
all. You'll definitely want ribbons for this fight (or a whole lot of HP).
If you can survive Poison Gas, this fight is pretty simple - his physical
attack does maybe 100 damage max (although it poisons) and he doesn't do
anything else. Ignore the Fire/Dia weaknesses, his MDef is too high to
bother with it. Haste and Temper your best attacker and go nuts, making
sure he stays alive.

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B.) Cagnazzo

HP: 7968
Attack: 44
Accuracy: 80
Defense: 20
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 55
Evasion: 5
Magic Defense: 180
Treasure: Light Curtain
Weaknesses: Lightning
Resistances: Quake, Time, Poison, Ice, Stone, Death

Suggested Level: 40+

Strategy: Cagnazzo is weak against lightning, but he's also got a horrid
defence stat, and unlike FF4, you can't stun him with lightning.
Cagnazzo's nasty attack is Tsunami, a water-based spell that doesn't seem
to have a counter (besides ribbon, which you may not have yet; if you do,
by all means). It does about 300 to all, killing a lower-level party.
I've beaten Cagnazzo at 30, but that's more because he didn't abuse
Tsunami. Cagnazzo's physical attack is pretty weak, but when he hastes
himself, it goes up to about 200. Cagnazzo also has immunity to slowra,
so you can't reverse the haste effect. Thundaga will hit for 300-350 with
a decent black mage, so use that if you like, but I go the tried-and-tested
haste/temper route. Healara (or healaga if you've got it) helps against
Tsunami as well, and since his agility is low, you might be able to get it
in before he hits you with it again.

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C.) Barbariccia

HP: 12954
Attack: 88
Accuracy: 100
Defense: 10
Agility: 60
Intelligence: 60
Evasion: 60
Magic Defense: 190
Treasure: Braveheart
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Time, Poison, Lightning, Stone, Death

Suggested Level: 40+

Strategy: Barbariccia is very similar to Cagnazzo, only with a stone attack.
Its physical attack -hurts-, and it has partial immunity to slowra, but I
suggest using it until it hits. Slowra will bring its physical attack from
400+ to under 100. Cyclone, his wind-based special attack, is similar to
Tsunami - an all attack that will hit for around 350 to all. His ray
attack, similar to the FF4 one, stones you, only this one isn't gradual.
Do the usual haste/temper spells on your best attacker, cast
healara/healaga if you've got a white mage after Cyclone, and you'll win.
Not -too- hard of a fight, assuming you have enough HP to survive
Cyclone.

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D.) Rubicante

HP: 15000
Attack: 88
Accuracy: 150
Defense: 40
Agility: 50
Intelligence: 65
Evasion: 30
Magic Defense: 220
Treasure: Kikuichimonji (ribbon next to him)
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Ice, Stone, Death, Fire, Time, Poison

Suggested Level: 40+

Strategy: That's a freaking lot of HP. That's also one hell of a MDef stat.
Rubicante's attacks are all fire-based, so use Nulblaze or a Red Curtain
instantly. Ice Shields also are a big help. He has four attacks: Scorch,
which hits one guy for about 500 damage (250 with Nulblaze); Firaga, which
hits all for about 300 (halved with Nulblaze, again); Fira, which is about
half of Firaga; and his physical attack, which hits for a good 400 on a weak
character. He's immune to slowra, so his physical attack is the painful one.
You can try and up your defence using drinks or protera, but it's likely to
be futile. Haste/temper your attacker (use the Giant's Gloves if you have
it yet) and use a whole lot of healara/healaga. I find that putting my
attacker last in the battle order helps, though it'll likely kill whoever
you put on top. If you can get him into a pattern, that HP will go away
faster than you think.

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IV.) Water Shrine

The FF5 dungeon features the two hardest bosses in the game, Omega and
Shinryu, even though the Air dungeon is later on. Both can absolutely
annihilate an unsuspecting party. The other two bosses, Gilgamesh and
Atomos, are beatable but nasty. Atomos is notable because his item drop
casts flare, making it one of the more important items to get. Even if
you can't beat Omega and Shinryu, getting this early will help out a
bunch.

As for Omega and Shinryu, both are nasty. I've gotten them both on
Level 49, and could probably do so lower, but I highly suggest having
a good chunk of HP to take at least Shinryu on. Shinryu's probably
harder, but Omega can maul you with a physical attack. Either way,
they should be taken out last, after the Air Shrine, because they're
the hardest bosses in the game.

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A.) Gilgamesh

HP: 8888
Attack: 70
Accuracy: 110
Defense: 50
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 20
Evasion: 10
Magic Defense: 220
Treasure: Genji Gloves
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Stone, Death, Time, Poison

Suggested Level: 40+

Strategy: True to Gilgamesh form, he'll (usually) come out of a treasure
chest. Gilgamesh is in one of three or four random spots each time.
Gilgamesh's physical attack is absolutely brutal. I've seen it
do over 700 damage. The rest of Gilgamesh's abilities are status-based:
NulAll and Protect. He's also got the classic Excalipur attack, doing
the customary 1 damage.

You're likely not going to be able to survive Gilgamesh's physical attack,
so I suggest taking your main attacker and hiding him at the bottom of the
formation. Use all the temper/haste/Giant's Gloves you can until you can
consistently do 2000+ damage and then start crushing him. If he attacks
someone, phoenix down them (don't worry about healing them to full - it's
either death or the 1 damage Excalipur) and return to pimping out your
attacker. With a little luck, he won't get hit and Gilgamesh will go down
quickly.

B.) Atomos

HP: 13000
Attack: 50
Accuracy: 80
Defense: 70
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 130
Evasion: 10
Magic Defense: 200
Treasure: Judgment Staff
Weaknesses:
Resistances:

Suggested Level: 40+

Strategy: First, a rundown of Atomos' attacks: Wormhole, which is an
instant death attack; Firaga, which does about 250 damage to all;
comet, a hard-hitting attack to one (about 450); and a weak physical
attack. To start, cast NulBlaze (although Firaga did 250 to me before
and 250 after I cast NulBlaze - I have no idea why), and, if you've
got it, NulDeath. Once you've neutralized Wormhole and can survive
Firaga, all you have to worry about is Comet. Temper/Haste your
attacker again (hide him if you're worried about being hit by Comet)
and beat him up. Gilgamesh is harder than him, and you get an awesome
treasure to boot.

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C.) Omega

HP: 35000
Attack: 115
Accuracy: 200
Defense: 190
Agility: 76
Intelligence: 40
Evasion: 95
Magic Defense: 220
Treasure: Murasame
Weaknesses: Lightning
Resistances: Quake, Ice, Stone, Poison, Sleep, Confusion, Death,
Fire, Time, Paraylsis, Darkness, Silence, Mind

Suggested Level: 55+

Strategy: Omega's physical attack -hurts-. I've seen it do over 800.
Omega's also got an attack (Wave Cannon) that hits all for about
350. He's got Earthquake as well, death to all as usual. Try
Nuldeath or a Lunar Curtain if you need it.

Omega's Defense stat sucks, making this fight impossibly long. The
trick to it is to up your evasion, and fast. Use the Defender on
your best attacker, Invisira, Blink, White Robe, all of them. If he
attacks first, chances are you've got a dead dude on your hands.

Once your evasion is high enough, start dealing damage. Tempering
and Hasting isn't as helpful thanks to the insane defense stat, so
use your Judgment Staff and Thundaga and go to work. Feel free to
use the Giant Gloves with your attacker a few times, haste him,
and deal damage that way too, but it's not the only way to go this
time. Make sure to keep your guys alive - a death means you have to
pimp out their evasion again, never any fun. If you can't survive
two Wave Cannons, i suggest casting Healaga every single fight if
you've got a White.

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D.) Shinryu

HP: 35000
Attack: 220
Accuracy: 200
Defense: 60
Agility: 87
Intelligence: 70
Evasion: 20
Magic Defense: 220
Treasure: Ragnarok (and Hero's Shield next to him)
Weaknesses: none
Resistances: Quake, Stone, Death, Time, Poison

Suggested Level: 60+

Strategy: If you don't have a White Mage, Shinryu is ugly. He likes to do
loads of all attacks, from Flare (probably the most painful) to Tidal Wave
(second most) to Thunderbolt or Icestorm (least, at least if you've got
a ribbon on). To top it off, he's got high agility, a nasty (though
not that nasty, about 450) physical attack, and a lot of HP.

How to fight him? Well, his physical attack isn't -too- bad, so while
evasion helps, it's not needed. NulAll might help vs. Icestorm or
Thunderbolt - if you've got extra Light Curtains, take a turn using them.
If you've got a White, use every turn casting Healaga. If you don't,
you're going to have to find a way to heal while still trying to deal
damage. If you've got a Red, Curaga might help; the Rune Staff that
Ultros drops might help as well. Don't be shy with your elixirs and
megaelixirs as well - there's no use saving them now.

Unlike Omega, you can hurt Shinryu with physical attacks, so build up
that strength and maul. Once you're strong enough, you can spend your
three other characters' turns healing and making sure your attacker
is alive. You can even give them things like Speed Drinks to hasten
the process. Giant's Gloves are absolutely needed here. If you've got
more than 600 HP on everyone, Shinryu's not that bad, really, but
Flare can mess you up.

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V.) Air Shrine

The Air Shrine is a mammoth 40 floor dungeon, but it's actually not that
bad. A number of floors are of the silly variety, from hide and seek to
beaver-matching to a place where you can buy spells and even rest at an
inn. Only the bottom ten or so floors have difficult enemies. The bosses
themselves aren't bad at all - Typhon/Chupon is a pushover, Orthros /
Ultros and Phantom Train have painful physical attacks but can be tamed,
and Death Gaze is hardly the beast that Omega or Shinryu is.

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A.) Typhon (or Chupon)

HP: 10000
Attack: 70
Accuracy: 70
Defense: 100
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 40
Evasion: 0
Magic Defense: 190
Treasure: Genji Helm
Weaknesses: Ice
Resistances: Quake, Time, Poison, Fire, Stone, Death

Suggested Level: 30+

Strategy: Chupon does Snort, the equivalent of FF6's sneeze, which
is instant death to one guy. His other attack is a relatively weak
physical attack, doing about 250 damage. Hide your attacker in the
bottom of your party to cut the chances of being hit by Snort and
use all the strength up skills you have. Chupon is probably the
easiest SOC boss there is.

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B.) Orthros (or Ultros)

HP: 17000
Attack: 60
Accuracy: 80
Defense: 40
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 20
Evasion: 0
Magic Defense: 180
Treasure: Rune Staff
Weaknesses: Fire, Lightning
Resistances: Quake, Time, Poison, Ice, Stone, Death

Suggested Level: 40+

Strategy: Ultros is like Kraken, kind of: a nasty physical
attack and an Ink attack that causes darkness. The ink attack
is utterly harmless, but his physical attack can do up to 800. I
fight Ultros by casting lots of stat-ups: Protera, Invisira, and
even Blink. With a couple casts of those, Ultros' physical attack
can be tamed, even to the point where he misses. Once he's
harmless, temper / haste your attacker and go nuts. He's weak vs.
fire and lightning, but like all of these bosses, his resistance
is so high that it's not worth taking advantage of. Ultros drops
the Rune Staff, which casts healara, a nice item.

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C.) Phantom Train

HP: 9999
Attack: 200
Accuracy: 50
Defense: 80
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 40
Evasion: 0
Magic Defense: 160
Treasure: Megalixir
Weaknesses: Fire, Dia
Resistances: Quake, Stone, Death, Time, Poison

Suggested Level: 50+

Strategy: The Phantom Train, surprisingly, doesn't do death.
Instead, one only needs to look at that Attack stat to see
what's up: his physical attack does around 600, killing an
average level character. He also does Acid Rain, a spell that
hits everyone for about 300. If he casts Acid Rain twice and
you don't get a heal inbetween, you're in trouble.

My goal in this fight is to increase my evasion as fast as
possible: if you've got a Red Mage or a White Mage, cast
Invisira with them and use the White Robe with another
character. After about four uses, his physical attack should
be rendered useless. Meanwhile, use the Giant's Gloves on
your attacker (hide him in the lower ranks if you're worried
about him getting killed). His HP isn't that high compared to
other fiends, so if you can neutralize his physical attack,
you've got him, regardless of level.

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D.) Death Gaze

HP: 30000
Attack: 90
Accuracy: 200
Defense: 150
Agility: 95
Intelligence: 50
Evasion: 50
Magic Defense: 220
Treasure: Lightbringer (Ultima Weapon in chest)
Weaknesses: Fire, Dia
Resistances: Quake, Time, Poison, Ice, Stone, Death

Suggested Level: 50+

Strategy: Deathgaze's difficulty lies in the numbers: his
accuracy and defence are sick. Cast all the evasion spells
you want, Deathgaze will likely still get a hit or two in.
Cast Temper all you want, it's still going to be hard to do
huge numbers of damage.

Does this change the typical strategy of how to fight him?
Nope. Besides a physical attack, I've seen Deathgaze cast
Dispel, and that's all. Therefore, Invisira, Blink, whatever
you can do to avoid damage. Because Deathgaze has such a
high agility stat, take one character (hopefully, the one
with the highest intelligence stat) and use your new Rune
Staff to heal any damage you might take from his attacks.
Once your evasion is sexy enough, start trying to do damage.
I would suggest the Temper/Haste/Giant's Gloves method,
although stuff like the Judgment Staff can be useful for
doing small chunks of damage. 30,000 HP takes a long time to
whittle down, but once he can't do much damage to you, it's
just a big, long loop.

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VI.) End

[email protected] - if you need help, just ask. Anyone
with strategies better than what I've written can feel free
to contribute. I'd appreciate it, actually.

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