Template:Sideicon Template:FFVII Enemy The Cactuar is an enemy in Final Fantasy VII, found in the Corel Prison desert. It is quite rare, confined to this one desert area, and comprising only 1/8 of the encounters there; the other 7/8 being Land Worms. There is also a small unmarked island in the northwest in the middle of the ocean, accessible by airship or gold chocobo that is half sand and half grass where they appear.
Formations
| # | Formation |
|---|---|
| 256 | Cactuar |
Locations
| Corel Desert | |
|---|---|
| Endless Desert | 256 |
Battle
The Cactuar only uses a physical attack; it has, but never uses, its 1000 Needles attack, making it far less dangerous than the Cactuer. It is elusive, with a high Evade and is immune to most elements; it tends to run away after three turns, leaving the player with nothing.
When defeated, the Cactuar drops 10,000 gil, making it a desirable enemy to fight. Its EXP to AP ratios are the lowest in the game until the Goblin enemies after the Highwind is obtained; its EXP to gil ratios, until the Mover enemies of the Northern Cave. Low-level challenges usually eschew expensive Materia, but the Cactuar makes them more accessible. The Cactuar's low encounter rate eats up a lot of time, making it less desirable for speed runs.
Strategy
Choco/Mog and Matra Magic are useful, being the only abilities the player has at this point in the game that are both magical and non-elemental. L4 Suicide will cause damage, but will not be able to kill a Cactuar outright as Matra Magic can, nor reduce its damage output, as the Cactuar is immune to the Small status. With few turns to complete the battle, and a relatively high chance for the Poison status to miss in any case, Bio is also less effective than the non-elemental spells. Grenade is also effective.
AI script
AI: Setup {
- TempVar:DfltDf% = Cactuar's Df%
} AI: Main {
- If (Count == 0 or 1) Then
- {
- If (1/2 Chance) Then
- {
- Choose Random Opponent
- Use <Mystery Kick> on Target
- }
- } Else If (Count = 2 or 3 or 4) Then {
- Choose Random Opponent
- Use <Mystery Kick> on Target
- If (1/2 Chance) Then
- {
- Choose Self
- Use <(Report)> on Target
- RunCmd 0x22/0x0F
- }
- } Else {
- Choose Random Opponent
- Use <Mystery Kick> on Target
- Choose Self
- Use <(Report)> on Target
- RunCmd 0x22/0x0F
- }
- Count = Count + 1
} AI: Counter - PreTurn {
- Cactuar's Df% = TempVar:DfltDf%
- If (7/8 Chance) Then
- {
- Cactuar's Df% = 255
- }
} AI: Counter - 13 {
- Remove Self
}
Gallery
Template:Gallery
Etymology
Sabotender (サボテンダー, Sabotendā?) is derived from mixing the Japanese word for cactus (サボテン, saboten?) and the English word "pretender" (プリテンダー, puritendā?).