Fiend (Final Fantasy VI)

Fiend, also known as Doom, is a boss in Final Fantasy VI. It is a member of the Warring Triad, and one of the three final bosses in Kefka's Tower before facing Kefka himself. Fiend has the distinction of having the highest HP of any enemy in the original game, and the third-most HP in the Game Boy Advance remake behind Kaiser Dragon and Omega Weapon.

Fiend attacks in two phases. Its first phase consists of it using Blizzaga, Absolute Zero and Northern Cross, which can be avoided by equipping the proper equipment. Northern Cross can Freeze characters, but it has a low Hit Rate, and Ice protection combined with high M.Block stops it. When Fiend is damaged eight times during any part of the battle, it will use Reverse Polarity to switch the rows of the party.

When Fiend is down to just over half its HP, it switches to a new strategy. A message will say "Fiend's aura is trembling violently!" and Fiend will gain Reflect, Haste, and Image, making it very difficult to hit. Attacks that cannot miss like Tools, Bushido and Blitz can pierce Image, and Ultima will bypass Reflect. Fiend will either use normal attacks or "Targeting", picking a character as a target for its powerful special attack called Fiendish Rage. Casting Protect on the character that Fiend uses "Targeting" on will help them survive. Fiend will also regularly cast Force Field, picking a random element and negating all damage done to it by attacks or Abilities of that element.

During these first two phases, Holy Abilities work well, as Fiend is weak to the Holy element. Fiend also has fairly strong Magic Defense, so Flare or Strago's Grand Delta are also very effective. If the player brings Strago to the battle, Rippler can be helpful to steal Fiend's status buffs. Force Field is also Strago's final Lore, and Fiend is the only enemy in the game to use it. Locke can steal a second Safety Bit from Fiend.

AI Script
Attack Turns: 1st Turn: Blizzaga (33%) or Northern Cross (33%) or Absolute Zero (33%) 2nd Turn: Blizzaga (33%) or Northern Cross (33%) or Nothing (33%) 3rd Turn: Blizzaga (66%) or Northern Cross (33%) 4th Turn: Blizzaga (33%) or Absolute Zero (33%) or Nothing (33%)

If attacked by anything:
 * Attack (66%)
 * Increase Var3 by 1
 * If HP <= 32640:
 * If Var36 is not set (only done once per battle):
 * Monster flashes
 * Display message: Fiend's aura is trembling violently!
 * Target: Self
 * Gains Image, Reflect, and Haste status
 * Set Var36

If Var3 >= 8:
 * Set Var3 = 0
 * Target: All Characters
 * Reverse Polarity

If Var36 is set:
 * 1st Turn: Attack (33%) or Targeting (66%)
 * 2nd Turn: Attack (33%) or Targeting (66%)
 * 3rd Turn: Attack (66%) or Targeting (33%)
 * 4th Turn: Attack (33%) or Targeting (66%)

If Targeting target is a valid target: Fiendish Rage (100%)

If Var36 is set:
 * If Timer >= 20:
 * If Var2 < 8:
 * Force Field (100%)
 * Increase Var2 by 1

Trivia

 * In the original concept artwork by Tetsuya Nomura, the Warring Triad are given names beyond their basic titles. Fiend was given the name Sefilos, which translated as "Sephiroth".

Related Enemies

 * Demon
 * Goddess