Bahamut (Final Fantasy V boss)

Bahamut is an optional boss in Final Fantasy V. Mentioned in the Sealed Tome along with Leviathan, the party may choose to fight him and obtain him as the Level 5 Bahamut Summon after the first tablet is acquired in the Pyramid of Moore in the Third World.

Appearance
Bahamut first appears in the game as a dragon-shaped landform in the First World. The landform is the location of the warp to Galuf's world after pieces of the adamantite are placed in each meteorite. In the beginning of the Third World, the airship will be there but inaccessible. When Bartz, Faris, and Krile obtain the first tablet in the Third World, the landform transforms into the dragon itself and tells the three to meet him at North Mountain. The airship will then land near where the Library of the Ancients used to be. When they finally make it to the mountain's summit, Bahamut flies over the mountain and the fight starts.

Strategy
Start off the battle immediately by dishing out your most powerful attacks. Samurai or Knights should have the Two-Handed ability equipped so they could deal more damage and increase chances of critical hits, any member who is a mage or has any magic ability equipped should cast protective spells, heal any damage dealt, or cast powerful spells, such as Holy, Flare, or Meteor. Dragoons should use Jump most of the time and Ninjas should throw, as for Mystic Knights or a member with Sword/Spellblade should have the Two-Handed ability paired with any of the three powerful magics, and, last but not least, Summoners should cast Leviathan, Syldra, or Phoenix if the player has any of them.

Bahamut uses several Fire and Water-based attacks such as Atomic Ray and Aqua Breath, and stronger attacks such as Frost and Maelstrom. Fortunately, most of these attacks can be absorbed or nullified by Coral Rings, and any other damage should be healed at full HP. Bahamut also casts Poison Breath which is not as powerful but inflicts Poison on the party, so remove the status effect as soon as possible. When Bahamut is cut down to a lower HP, he will attack with Mega Flare, a signature attack that can annihilate the party if their HP is below 5,000 or so. Luckily, this can be avoided if if one finishes the battle fast enough, or if one casts Reflect or Carbuncle on the party before this happens. If the party has these spells cast on it, then it will not be able to heal using White Magic. Fortunately, the Blue Magic spell White Wind ignores Reflect, so the player can use that to heal the party.

An easy but MP-costly strategy is to have a Time Mage Doublecast Quick and continuously cast Meteor.

Once the battle is won, the player obtains Bahamut, a Level 5 Summon. When summoned, Bahamut uses Mega Flare, a powerful non-elemental attack, on all enemies.

Gallery
Bahamut (Final Fantasy V)