Brachioraidos (Final Fantasy IV)

Brachioraidos in an enemy exclusive to Final Fantasy IV Advance and Final Fantasy IV The Complete Collection. A strong enemy that can be seen on the field, it is one of the game's superbosses. It drops the Hero's Shield, the strongest shield in the game and the only shield that can be equipped by all party members.

Strategy
Early in the battle, Brachioraidos will cast Scorch, which will do over 9,000 damage and is virtually an instant kill. Its physical attack is powerful as well. Eventually, it will mimic Bahamut and begin to count down to Megaflare. If attacked during this time, it will cast Protect and Reflect on itself and begin Triple-casting powerful spells off itself, doing severe damage to whatever party member the spells hit. It can use Maelstrom to inflict Near-Fatal on the party, and can use Restore to heal itself for 9,999. It can also counter attacks with Globe 199, which is an instant kill. It can cast status spells on the party as well.

Cecil, Kain, Yang, and Cid should attack while Edge Throws weapons, and Edward uses Chant. If Edward has Loki's Lute equipped, the player could have him attack and deal max damage (or close to it) with every turn. It is essential for Rosa or Porom to be in the party to heal.

Rydia may also be useful for her powerful, if unreliable, Asura summon, which can cast Life on the entire party. Otherwise, she and all other mages including Palom should cast Holy or Flare. Kain may be extremely useful in this battle, as the Tornado sometimes caused by his Abel's Lance will kill Brachioraidos instantly, if it is not reflected.

The party should pummel Brachioraidos until it casts Reflect and Protect. At this time, Rosa or Porom should cast Reflect on a party member to bounce spells off them. If the player is unlucky, Triple-cast will hit three party members, but if the player is lucky all three spells may only hit two or even just one party member. This is not applicable in the PSP version as the damage from each spell will be calculated on a per-spell basis, not after the barrage has ended, which means unless one or more of the party members can resist or absorb an elemental spell, three of the party members will be killed per triple-cast.

Either way, Rosa and Porom should revive the party. This is the best time to use the Grimoires the party has found, to do 9,999 damage that will ignore Reflect and Protect. If Cecil or Cid are using their ultimate weapons, the player should be careful, as they randomly cast Flare/Holy, and these will be reflected back at them. Brachioraidos will also use Black Hole, which will remove Reflect from the party, but as the player is likely in dire need of healing at this time, it will not matter.

Alternately, when Brachioraidos starts his count down the player could set up Reflect on as many of your party members as possible and bounce Megaflare back to it, then revive anyone who was hit by Megaflare, and continue the onslaught until he counts down again, and set Reflect back up if need be. One should be careful not to accidentally attack while he's counting down.

When Brachioraidos is defeated, it drops the best shield in the game, the Hero's Shield. After defeating Brachioraidos a few times, it can be noticeably easier to defeat again, as the Hero's Shield absorbs all forms of elemental damage thus negating many of its attacks.

Trivia

 * The Brachioraidos shares its Japanese name, "Burakioreidosu," with the Brachiosaur from Final Fantasy VI, Vlakorados from Final Fantasy VII, and Th'uban from Final Fantasy X. Though the four all share the same Japanese name, to date "Burakioreidosu" has been translated a different way in every game the enemy appears in. Phonetically, "Brachioraidos" is the translation closest to the Japanese name.

Related Enemies

 * Green Dragon
 * Yellow Dragon

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-

 * Green Dragon
 * Yellow Dragon

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

 * Green Dragon
 * Curse Dragon

Brachioraidos (FFIV) Brachioraidos