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 leave 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 isn't defeated within a certain amount of time, it will revert to the Calcas and the Brinas with all their HP.

SNES Strategy
If at a high enough level, Calcabrina shouldn't pose much of a threat. However, there's a simple method to taking it down, without it transforming. Take out one Calca, then one Brina, and repeat, using Cecil to attack the Brinas and serve as back up healer, Kain jumping the Calcas and Yang attacking the Calcas as well; Rosa should serve as primary healer and attack when possible. Eventually you'll be left with one Calca and one Brina. Have Kain jump the last Calca, and once it's gone, quickly take out the Brina. Calcabrina comes out when you take out all of the Calcas or all of the Brinas without having taken out all of the other group as well. This method, when you take out a group, you 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.

DS Strategy
In the Nintendo DS version Calcabrina is a much harder boss, as every single attack that the player makes will be countered with an extremely powerful physical attack that deals at least 1,000HP of damage. Its normal physical attacks do not occur very 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, for instance) can be used without fear of being countered, but as none of your group has enough black magic power to seriously damage Calcabrina, this is not really a reasonable strategy.

The best strategy is to prevent Calcabrina from forming in the first place, by quickly taking out the Calcas and Brinas. However, if you are intent on battling Calcabrina, you should use Yang as your main attacker and have him fully focus his attacks, which can cause 2,000HP or more of damage with good levels and equipment. Cecil should heal to begin with, and have Kain guard while Calcabrina is active, as there isn't much he can do at this stage of the battle. Rosa should never attack, as she will almost certainly die instantly from the counter-attack - instead, have her try and cast Stop on Calcabrina - it won't hit very often, but when it does, unleash the full brunt of Cecil and Kain's attacks. You might have trouble dealing with Calcabrina before it reverts to the smaller dolls, although this can be a blessing since the Calcas and Brinas are easier to deal with than the big doll.

Regardless of which version is being played, it is important that Cecil finish this battle with around 500HP or more, otherwise the following battle with Golbez will become very difficult, if not impossible.

Related enemies

 * Calca
 * Brina
 * Death Puppet