Calcabrina (Final Fantasy IV 2D)

The Calcabrina, also known as Calcobrena and Calbrena, is a boss from Final Fantasy IV. It appears during the battle with the Calcas and the Brinas after a certain amount of time passes and the enemies are not defeated. If this happens, the Calcas and the Brinas will use Combine, and the party will have to battle the Calcabrina. It can be particularly dangerous because it uses Glance to charm a character and can cause large amounts of damage. If the Calcabrina is not defeated within a certain amount of time, it will revert to the Calcas and the Brinas with all their HP.

Regardless of the game version, it is important that Cecil has high HP at the battle's end, otherwise the battle that follows immediately after this battle will become very difficult, if not impossible.

Strategy
If at a high enough level, Calcabrina should not pose much of a threat and there is a simple method to taking it down, without it transforming. The party should take out one Calca, then one Brina, and repeat, using Cecil to attack the Brinas and serve as back-up healer, Kain using Jump on the Calcas and Yang attacking the Calcas as well; Rosa should serve as primary healer and attack with Aim when possible. Eventually, only one Calca and one Brina are left. Kain should use Jump on the last Calca, and once it is gone, the party should quickly take out the Brina. The dolls transform into Calcabrina when all of the Calcas or all of the Brinas without having taken out all of the other group as well. By taking out a group, the player only have to deal with one enemy (this case, Brina, which has less HP), so if quick, it will perish before being able to transform.

Nintendo DS
In the Nintendo DS version, Calcabrina is a much harder boss, as every single attack the player makes will be countered with a powerful physical attack that deals at least 1,000 HP of damage. Its normal physical attacks do not occur often, but still cause the same amount of damage and can also result in the Charm status. Only Black Magic attacks (cast with items such as a Bomb Fragment) can be used without fear of being countered, but as none of the group has enough Black Magic power to seriously damage Calcabrina, this is not really a reasonable strategy.

The optimal strategy is to prevent Calcabrina from forming in the first place, by quickly taking out the Calcas and Brinas.Focus 3x with Yang then kick all Calcas and Brinas will die However, if the player is intent on battling Calcabrina, its attacking power is severely crippled by the Blink status. Rosa can cast it along with Protect, and she should cast both spells as soon as the battle starts. Yang should be your the attacker, using Focus. Cecil can also cover his allies, as he has good defense and good HP. It is also susceptible to Rosa's Hold spell, which will render it unable to attack or counter temporarily, leaving it open to attack.

Gallery
focus 3x with Yang. Then kick all Calcas and all Brinas will die

Related Enemies

 * Calca
 * Brina
 * Death Puppet