Hell Wyrm

Hell Wyrm is an optional boss in Final Fantasy XII. It is regarded as a prelude to the most difficult superboss in the game, Yiazmat.

Page 1: Observations
Genus: Boss Classification: Dark Dragon

''Being a dragon of such high order of evil it is called the King of Hell. Legend claims that it once traveled freely between this world and the underworld spreading destruction until the gods themselves intervened, robbing it of the power of flight, and sending it plummeting into the abyss. Though it spread its wings again, meaning to challenge the gods' judgment, the power of the shining glyphs they had placed upon it kept it earthbound, and so it slept for many eons in dark passages, awaiting the chance to rise once more.''

Finding Hell Wyrm
In order to gain access to Hell Wyrm's lair, the player must have already defeated the Vyraal Hunt #21: Get My Stuff Back in the Balfonheim/Cerobi Steppe area. Once the hunt has been completed, the player will receive the Key Item Dragon Scale. Upon collecting the hunt reward, the player must return to Cerobi Steppe and search Windmill #10 located in the northeastern part of the Steppe to trigger a scene with the Wyrm Philosopher who will trade the Dragon Scale for the Age Worn Key, which will open the Hall of the Wroth God in the Sochen Cave Palace.

Hall of the Wroth God can only be accessed upon solving the puzzle of the Ascetic Door in Destiny's March. The player must enter the circled junction area from the east, and open only the "Hour Door"s going clockwise. Once the player has got around in a circle the game will tell the player that a door has been opened in the distance. The door is at the dead-end at the west that leads to Hell Wyrm.

Battle
Level 50 or higher is a good level for fighting Hell Wyrm. The battle can be abandoned at any time, and the Hell Wyrm's HP stays at the point where the player left it, but if left for too long it will regain health. Hell Wyrm can cast several high-level spells and can use Stone Breath, which can deal around 1,500 damage to all characters in range and has a chance of inflicting Petrify. Hell Wyrm uses Judgment each time it loses 10% of its HP, which deals Holy damage and has a chance of inflicting Stop. Hell Wyrm uses Invert, which inverts a character's HP and MP. When Hell Wyrm has 30% of its HP left, it will only use Rake on the player. Depending on the player's level, the attack can deal up to 3000 damage. When Hell Wyrm has only 20% of HP left, he will use Stone Breath. Again, it will only use this attack, however, it is much easier because unlike Rake, it takes more time for the Hell Wyrm to charge the attack.

Equipping the Party
One character should be equipped with Mystic Armor and a greatsword, if a staff is not needed. This character will be on the healing job, and should have the gambit Ally: HP &lt;60% -&gt; Curaga as well as Ally: Status = KO -&gt; Arise. Another character will be the party's "tank", and should be equipped with Heavy Armor and a basic attack gambit. The tank may also have some minor supportive gambits such as Self -&gt; Bravery and Ally: Status = Petrification -&gt; Stona/Gold Needle. The last character should be primarily a "buffer". Equipped with Light or Heavy Armor, this character should have a basic attacking gambit as well as various buffer gambits such as Ally: Any -&gt; Protectga, Ally: Any -&gt; Hastega, Ally: *party healer* -&gt; Faith, Ally: *party tank* -&gt; Decoy, and Ally: *party tank* -&gt; Bravery. All characters should be equipped with a gambit to get rid of Stop, such as Ally: -&gt; Chronos Tear. Shell can be useful once Hell Wyrm starts to use Invert. At that point Hell Wyrm will use various "-ga" level magicks to deal area damage and kill Invert's targets. Healing with items is often quicker than magick; X-Potions can work well if one has a large stock (it is recommended that all characters have every Potion Lore license at this point in the game). The player must remember to deactivate the Bravery/Faith and Hastega/Protectga gambits when Hell Wyrm starts casting Invert a lot; the characters need to focus on quick healing and quick attacking. Starting the battle with 99 Ethers helps (again, each character should have every Ether Lore), to be used once a character finishes one MP bar. If a character's MP drops low, he/she may benefit from using Charge. The party's healer can also siphon MP from the party's tank with the Syphon spell.

Using Expose to lower Hell Wyrm's Defense can be an effective tactic. Bubble Belts are highly recommended.

It is recommended that each character have at least the top half of the License Board entirely filled in. To make the task easier, the player should make it a priority to buy a Golden Amulet for each character as soon as one has enough gil. Then, once a given character gains the license to use Golden Amulets, one should keep him/her equipped with one until he/she completes the License Board. Best tactic is to buy six and keep them equipped even for the reserve characters. **SIDE NOTE** Once every character has finished the License Board, one should sell the Golden Amulets, buy Embroidered Tippets, and keep them equipped for the rest of the game, however for high level enemies Bubble Belts are the best option.

Minimizing the Damage from Hell Wyrm's Spells
The player should consider buying at least one of any armor that protects/immunizes against, or even absorbs, damage from an element. Hell Wyrm will use high-level "-ga" magicks throughout the battle, so reducing the negative impact of such spells can save some MP or an X-Potion. For example, Demon Shields and Black Masks absorb Dark-elemental damage, Adamant Vests and Adamant Hats halve damage from Fire (weak against Ice, though, not suitable for default armor), and Rubber Suits nullify Thunder-elemental damage. The key to making good use of this tactic is keeping a close watch on Hell Wyrm's actions during the battle. For example, when Hell Wyrm is about to use Waterga, the player can immediately equip the party with Viking Coats to nullify the damage. The switch should take effect as long as the damage from the attack has not been displayed yet.

The same is true for status effects such as Blind or Sap. If Hell Wyrm is preparing to use Stone Breath, the player can immediately equip the party with Fuzzy Miters to immunize them against Petrify. Before entering the battle's final phase where Hell Wyrm uses Invert and -ga level magick, Hell Wyrm will, for a short period of time, be in a phase where it will use only Stone Breath.

Elemental Weaknesses
Hell Wyrm is weak against Holy-elemental damage and absorbs the Dark element. Equipping the "tank" with a Holy Lance can shorten the battle significantly. Excalibur, which may be found in the upper levels of the Great Crystal, is Holy elemental and has +128 Attack. While it may seem like a good idea to hit Hell Wyrm with the Holy spell, this may not be wise. The reason for this is that no one else may do anything other than attack while Holy or another high-level spell is being used. For example, Hell Wyrm might Rake the "tank" to death because the healer could not heal the "tank" while Holy was being used.

Hell Wyrm is weak against Oil. The easiest way to inflict Hell Wyrm with Oil is to equip a party member with Nihopalaoa and use Handkerchief on it.

MP replenishing
If the healer is low on MP, it may be a good idea to have him/her use Syphon on the "tank". The "tank" should focus mainly on attacking, so he/she probably will not use much MP during the battle whilst recovering MP any time he/she deals or takes damage due to the Martyr and Inquisitor licenses.

Recovering from Invert
In the later stages of the fight, when Hell Wyrm begins using Invert more frequently, one should keep an eye on the characters' HP gauges. Hell Wyrm will mostly use his spells to damage, so typically, all active party members (within range) will be "targeted" - their names will be listed in red on the gauges. When Invert is used, only one character will be targeted, and the player will be able to tell who that character is before its effects set in. If the character has MP left, one can interrupt any action that they're taking, and cast Curaga, Curaja, or Renew. By the time the character has finished charging the cast, Invert will have just finished switching HP and MP, so the character will be refreshed almost instantaneously, minimizing the effect. In the meantime, the other two characters can keep the pressure on until the third is ready to rejoin the fight. This will likely occur every other action that the Hell Wyrm takes.

Nifty Trick: Reverse
If the player rather not spend the time throwing around heal and anti-status spells/items, one can simply cast Reverse on the party members. By doing so, any harm or healing done to them will have the opposite effect. By using this spell (combined with Turtleshell Choker if the party have an excess of money), one can temporarily nullify the Wyrm's ability to damage the party. If one party member is set to cast Reverse on the others when the status runs out, the player can practically breeze through the fight. However, Reverse runs out very quickly and quickly drains the caster's MP unless equipped with the Turtleshell Choker.

Rewards
After defeating Hell Wyrm the player can meet up with Montblanc in the Clan Centurio Hall and he will reward the party with 50,000 Gil.

Defeating Hell Wyrm also unlocks his sprite in the Sky Pirate's Den, granting the player the title Radiant Savior.

Related Enemies

 * Ash Wyrm
 * Shield Wyrm
 * Lindwyrm (Mark)
 * Ring Wyrm (Mark)
 * Fafnir (Mark)
 * Yiazmat (Ultimate Mark)
 * Tiamat (Boss)
 * Elder Wyrm (Optional Boss)