Hell Wyrm

Hell Wyrm is an optional boss in Final Fantasy XII. It is regarded as a prelude to the supreme superboss Yiazmat. Hell Wyrm is fought in the Sochen Cave Palace, and the player must open the door to its lair with the Age Worn Key.

Hell Wyrm is also fought in the Trial Mode stage 87 in the Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System version.

Page 1: Observations

 * Genus: Boss
 * Classification: Dark Dragon

Finding Hell Wyrm
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 Northsward) 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 "Doors of Hours" going clockwise. Once the player has walked around in a circle a door opens in the distance. The door is at the dead-end at the west that leads to Hell Wyrm.

Battle
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 use Stone Breath, which can deal around 2,000 damage to party members in range and has a chance of inflicting Petrify. Hell Wyrm uses Judgment each time it loses 5 bars of its HP, which deals Holy damage and has a chance of inflicting Stop. Hell Wyrm uses Invert to invert a character's HP and MP. At that point Hell Wyrm will use various "-ga" level magicks to deal area damage and kill Invert's targets.

When Hell Wyrm has 30% of its HP left it will only use Rake. 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 only use Stone Breath, which takes longer than using Rake. Additionally, throughout the entire fight Hell Wyrm's normal physical attack will have a 5% chance to incur instant death.

Hell Wyrm is weak against Holy-elemental damage and absorbs the Dark element. Hell Wyrm is weak against Oil.

Strategy
Level 55 or higher is a good level for fighting Hell Wyrm. 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% → Curaga as well as Ally: Status = KO → 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 minor supportive gambits, such as Self → Bravery and Ally: Status = Petrification → Stona/Gold Needle.

The last character should be primarily a "buffer". Equipped with heavy armor, this character should have a basic attacking gambit as well as various buffer gambits such as Ally: Any → Protectga, Ally: Any → Hastega, Ally: *party healer* → Faith, Ally: *party tank* → Decoy, and Ally: *party tank* → Bravery. All characters should be equipped with a gambit to get rid of Stop, such as Ally: → Chronos Tear. Shell can be useful once Hell Wyrm starts to use Invert. 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). 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. Invert can be considered a benefit as it should fully replenish the targeted character's MP, and presents little harm if the player's team is quick in healing.

The player should 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 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 recommended. It is recommended that each character have at least the top half of the License Board filled in.

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 (but are weak against Ice), 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.

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 as it fills the Effect Capacity delaying everyone else's turns.

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 a Handkerchief on it. Using the Wyrmfire Shot on a gun when Hell Wyrm is afflicted with Oil can do great damage. Equipment with elemental affinity to Fire can be equipped to boost Fire attacks' power further.

If the player inflicts the party with Reverse 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 gil), 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 breeze through the fight. However, Reverse runs out quickly and rapidly drains the caster's MP unless equipped with the Turtleshell Choker.

Trial Mode
Hell Wyrm is fought on stage 87 in the Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System version.

Rewards
After defeating Hell Wyrm, the player can meet up with Montblanc in the Clan Centurio Hall and be rewarded 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)

Drago demoniaco (Final Fantasy XII)