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 highest HP of any enemy in the original game, and the third-most HP in the Game Boy Advance and mobile remakes behind Kaiser Dragon and Omega Weapon.

According to the Final Fantasy III Nintendo Player's Guide, the final battle sequence against the Statue of the Gods is supposed to be a rematch of the Warring Triad; the third tier being Fiend. No official material support this, however; the idea was created by Nintendo of America.

Battle
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 difficult to hit. Fiend will either use normal attacks or "Targeting", picking a character as a target for its powerful special attack called Fiendish Rage. 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.

Locke can steal a second Safety Bit from Fiend.

Strategy
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 effective. If the player brings Strago to the battle, Rippler can 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.

For Fiend's second phase, attacks that cannot miss—like Tools, Bushido and Blitz—can pierce Fiend's Image, and Ultima will bypass Reflect. Casting Protect on the character that Fiend uses "Targeting" on will help them survive.

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

Final Fantasy XIV


The Fiend and the other two Warring Triads appear in Azys Lla in their statue forms. Known as "Sephirot the Fiend", he is said to be the Primal once worshiped by tree-like race who summoned him to defend them from an invasion from the Allagan Empire. He was eventually defeated by the Allagans and imprisoned for centuries within Azys Lla, until the events of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward weakened the seal.

Etymology
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."

The variation in English names is, much like "Demon," a result of mild ambiguity in the Japanese god-title used for this entity; specifically, まじん, majin, or 魔神. Literally it means "evil god," with a note that 神 (shin or kami) covers a wider variety of deific or supernatural entities than the word "god" may denote in English. Majin are nearly always malevolent, or at least "ill-omened," with the possibility for disaster always laced in mortal interactions with them.

Because of the varied nature of such beings in Japanese mythology and culture, however, there has historically been disagreement over the best single term to use as a translation. "Devil" is sometimes used (although classical Western devils of Hell are referred to as 悪魔, akuma), as is "genie" or simply "evil spirit." "Doom" seems to have been an attempt by Ted Woolsey to capture the idea of 魔, specifically, with a little additional flair; "Fiend" is another general term for evil beings but without some of the very specific imagery attached to "devil" or "demon," and is generally a good match for majin in terms of imagery invoked.

Related enemies

 * Demon
 * Goddess