Omega (The After Years)

Omega is a boss from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Unlike Atmos or Gilgamesh, it can be fought optionally in the Depths of the True Moon.

Strategy
Omega begins the battle by using Omeguard and Reflect on itself. Omeguard reduces all damage it takes to 1, but after attacking it sufficiently, the guard will break and Omega will take normal damage before he uses Omeguard again. The number of times one can attack while Omeguard is down varies from one hit to several.

Omega's physical attack does several thousand damage, and its Black Hole can remove all status buffs to the party. Maelstrom also reduces one or more characters to single-digit HP, and they should be healed quickly. Omega's trademark attack is Surge Cannon, which does damage to each party member equal to half their max HP and inflicts Sap. While it has Flamethrower and Thermal Rays, they are less powerful.

Omega's other attacks include Arm, which halves a character's HP and may Confuse them, and Electromagnetic Radiation, which inflicts a Stop-like status on a character that cannot be lifted. While this attack is not often used, it is advised to kill the character if this happens and revive them. Using a Blue Fang on Omega will provoke it to use Meltdown, which instantly kills the party.

The player should first use a Spider's Silk on Omega to inflict Slow, which cannot be reflected since it is an item effect. Due to Black Hole, the only status buffs that should be focused on is Haste, since any White Mage(s) will be busy healing the party. After breaking Omeguard, attacks that do the most damage must be exploited. Meteor is effective and may do more than 10,000 if the caster has the Limit Ring, and it will also bypass Omega's Reflect. As Omega is weak to Lightning, Thundaga is also recommended. Weapons such as the Holy Lance or Excalibur should also be swapped out, as Omega resists Holy. The player should use a Dry Ether on their White Mage if their MP runs low. Other healing techniques such as the Heal Pill Ninjutsu can be helpful. Bands fluctuate in usefulness due to the fact that two or more party members must give up their turns to use them, and are not practical, as there are faster ways to damage Omega. Healing Bands, however, may be worth it depending on the situation.

A final note is that the player should prepare for Omega using a combo of Surge Cannon and Maelstrom. This can potentially wipe out their party instantly - Surge Cannon will inflict Sap, and Maelstrom reduces everyone to single-digits, ensuring their deaths seconds later. If this occurs, the player should immediately cast the Cure spell on the party, which will execute much faster than its upgrades and reduces the likelihood of someone dying before it casts, followed by casting Curaja once.