Nidhogg (Final Fantasy XI)

Nidhogg is a Hyper Notorious Monster (one of the three HQ Land Kings) in Final Fantasy XI, found in the Dragon's Aery, as a lottery spawn for its Normal-Quality placeholder counterpart Fafnir, after 3 days have passed. It is several levels higher than Fafnir, and has essentially the same character model on-screen but is somewhat larger. Nidhogg has a variety of devastating abilities shared by most monsters in the Wyrm family, as well as an un-named unique ability which boosts all of its stats significantly for short spans of time. Unlike Fafnir, however, all of its special attacks will strike ever player within proximity, not simply the specific player-alliance fighting it. To avoid damage from Dragon Breath and Spike Flail, the most common strategy to defeat any Wyrm is to fight it with all party members standing at either side of its front, more or less on its front toes. Nidhogg is perhaps the most-highly sought after monster by the endgame community in all of [[Final Fantasy XI], primarily because of its relatively easy access and outstanding loot pool. This also makes it the most heavily-camped monster in the entire game, which also makes it subject to the most third-party tool users attempting to claim it for their player alliances.

Special attacks

 * Hurricane Wing: Moderate area damage, severe but brief Blind effect.
 * Horrid Roar: Dispels at random one beneficial effect.
 * Absolute Terror: Inflicts a single target with the Terror status, an irremovable Stun effect.
 * Dragon Breath: Heavy frontal cone Fire-based damage.
 * Spike Flail: Catastrophic area damage when hate is taken from behind. Generally will cause a player alliance to be instantly killed.
 * "Boost": Raises Nidhogg's Attack, Defense, and Magic Defense astronomically for roughly 30 seconds; noticeable by the dust-cloud that appears upon use, and its raised wings.

Nidhogg's loot pool contains the Earthen Abjuration: Body (used to make the Adaman Hauberk), the Aquarian Abjuration: Body (used to make the Dalmatica), the Martial Abjuration: Body (used to make the Koenig Cuirass), the Neptunal Abjuration: Legs (used to make the Hecatomb Subligar), and the Wyrm Beard (used in the quest to obtain the Black Belt item for Monks). Up until 2008, this was the only place in the game to obtain any of these items, which are arguably some of the best in the game for their respective Job selections.