Bahamut (Final Fantasy VIII boss)


 * For summon information see Bahamut.

Bahamut is an optional boss in Final Fantasy VIII found in Deep Sea Research Center. To fight, the player must reach the blue light in the middle. Whenever the blue light in shining the player must fight against random enemies, but if the player moves when the light dims, they can avoid the battles. Once the party inspects the pillar of blue light they are asked questions and must answer "It is not our will to fight" to the first question, "never" to the second question, and choose the secret third option for the third question. Ruby Dragons are fought after each answer. Defeating Bahamut allows the party to obtain it as a Guardian Force.

Battle
At the start of the battle, there will be a brief conversation:

Bahamut: "I am...Bahamut." Squall: "The Great GF...Bahamut." Bahamut: "...GF? I...?" "Using my powers..." "...it is you humans...I fear..."

Bahamut is susceptible to Blind, which is useful to avoid its Claw Swipe. Its magic attacks can be countered by elemental defense on Lightning and Wind, and having Auto-Haste helps when Bahamut decides to cast Stop. The player may also wish to junction some Stop spells to status defense to reduce the chances of it hitting. Mega Flare is a non-elemental attack that will ignore the spirit stat; however the damage may be lessened by being shelled and using the Defend command.

An alternate, riskier strategy, involves a party of Squall, Quistis, and Selphie. One should junction Pandemona and Doomtrain to Squall and Cactuar to Quistis and both of them should have the Initiative auto-ability. Quistis and Selphie should also be in critical status. When the battle begins, Squall should summon Doomtrain or cast Meltdown while Bahamut is busy talking. Quistis can her use of Initiative for clearing the two Ruby Dragons immediately before Bahamut with Degenerator. Selphie can cast Wall on the party at the earliest possible opportunity; her second move should be to cast Full-Cure. The battle will be over much faster if Bahamut's vitality is down to zero; Doomtrain is better than Meltdown, because Bahamut is vulnerable to Blind. Casting Haste and Aura on Squall and then following through with Renzokuken will finish the battle quickly.

Wall should take care of Mega Flare, but Bahamut is in the habit of casting it twice in a row. Because of this it is good to keep one character always ready to perform an action at all times.

Upon its defeat, Bahamut will say:

"Have you seen the light...?"

Trivia

 * In Ultimecia Castle there is another boss, called Tiamat, that looks similar to Bahamut and even has a similar move to Bahamut's Megaflare (D-A-R-K-F-L-A-R-E).
 * The first sentence of Bahamut's Scan description in the English language release of Final Fantasy VIII contains a spelling mistake, reading "Called the King of GF; its Mega Flare ignores all defence, giving a powerful blo". In the PlayStation Greatest Hits (Platinum) release this error is corrected so that the first line ends with simply "ignores all defense".
 * The way the party reaches Bahamut - by fighting two Ruby Dragons before fighting Bahamut himself - bears some similarities to the way Cecil and his party encounter Bahamut in the Red Moon during Final Fantasy IV: by defeating two Behemoths in a row before facing Bahamut.

Bahamut (FFVIII)