Shinryu (Final Fantasy V)

Shinryu is one of the optional super bosses in Final Fantasy V. Shinryu attacks the party when they inspect the treasure chest containing the Ragnarok.

Shinryu's attacks mostly define the difficulty fighting it. It possess very strong elemental attacks, the most dangerous being it's Tsunami that it uses on the first turn, which will inflict over 8000 damage, wiping out all but the strongest characters. Aside from the greatly powered elemental attacks, it also has an arsenal of Blue Magic at its disposal, as well as status inflicting attacks. Listed below:
 * Atomic Ray - fire-elemental damage to all targets.
 * Ice Storm - ice-elemental damage to all targets.
 * Tidal Wave - water-elemental damage to all targets.
 * Lightning - lightning-elemental damage to all targets.
 * Maelstrom - wind-elemental damage to all targets.
 * Evil Eye - causes Petrify to a target.
 * Poison Breath - causes damage to all targets, and sometimes inflict Poison.
 * Zombie Breath - causes damage to all targets, and sometimes inflict Zombie.
 * Level 2 Old - those with levels divisible by 2 is inflicted with Old
 * Level 3 Flare - those with levels divisible by 3 gets Flared.
 * Roulette - randomly causes death to a party member.
 * Mighty Guard - casts Protect, Shell and Float to itself.

It can be argued whether Shinryu or Omega is the game's hardest boss. While Shinryu possess stronger attacks and more health, it's strongest attacks can be protected against, and is weak against certain weapons because it's a dragon enemy.

Strategy
A good strategy is to equip everybody with Coral Rings and Ice Shields, so you can absorb his Tsunami and his ice attack and to also nullify his Atomic Ray. It would also be a good idea to setup and keep reestablishing Golem. Also, before the battle, be sure to have the Steal or Mug ability so you can get the Dragon's Whisker.

A cheap way of beating Shinryu is by making a character a Time Mage with the Mix ability. Simply cast Quick, then mix an Eyedrop and a Dragon Fang to cast Dark Sigh on Shinryu, which will cause Blind. Then mix a Turtle Shell and a Revivify to cast Bacchus' Wine on him, causing the Berserk status on Shinryu. This makes Shinryu relatively easy, as all he can do now is attack but have his attack absorbed by Golem.

Trivia

 * The Thousand-year-old book in the library on the Interdimensional Rift states, "The dragon Shinryu came upon Omega's heels." It is ironic that Shinryu came second considering the fact that it has much more devastating attacks than Omega and can wipe out the whole party from the very first turn of the battle even if the player is on a high level.

Related Enemies

 * Crystal Dragon
 * Neo Shinryu