Indeed, the very power I possess—shall be fed by yours!
Chronodia
Chronodia is a superboss from the original Final Fantasy found in the 20th Anniversary remake and subsequent versions of the game based on it. She awaits players brave enough to venture to the deepest level of the Labyrinth of Time. There are eight different versions of Chronodia to fight, depending on how many blue and red seals the player has unlocked, with more blue seals leading to more powerful versions and more red seals leading to weaker versions.
Chronodia resembles the Seven Heroes, the final boss from Romancing SaGa 2, and may have been inspired by it.
Stats[]
Chronodia's stats and battle reward depend on the colors of seals the player has unlocked when going through the labyrinth. The rewards are Maximillian for #196, Lust Dagger for #197, Golden Staff for #198, Master Shield for #199, Shadow Mask for #200, Lordly Robes for #201, Survival Vest for #202 and Barbarian's Sword for #203. Thus, to fully complete the bestiary and get all rewards, the player will need to complete the labyrinth eight times to fight all different variations.
Battle[]
Chronodia appears as a monstrous woman with various appendages protecting a sphere, which is surrounded by the Four Fiends that served as bosses earlier in the game. The weakest version (#196 in the bestiary) has no fiends "attached", while the strongest version (#203 in the bestiary) has all the fiends, and what looks like a head of Chaos coming out of Chronodia's hair, along with various extra weapons surrounding her. The more attachments, the stronger Chronodia becomes, as if she absorbs their energy.
Chronodia gains more attachments the more blue seals the player has unlocked rather than red seals.
Chronodia has mastery of time magic and possesses all spells related to it. Every version of her has the following abilities:
- Regular Attack — Powerful physical damage to one target. The party should apply several Invisira spells to avoid it (especially if Chronodia is under the effects of Haste), and possibly Protect/Protera as a backup.
- Seal — Locks a command. Only one command can be locked at a time. Chronodia uses this ability every fifth turn. Wears off in 4 turns. If "Attack" is disabled, the player should use spell casting items to continue to deal damage. If "Item" is disabled, the player should keep their White Magic user alive at all costs.
- Haste — Increases Chronodia's number of attacks. Her physical attack will kill practically anyone even at full health.
- Slow — May inflict Slow status on the party.
- Stop — May inflict paralysis on the party. Time-elemental.
- Warp — May inflict instant death on the party. Time-elemental.
Her remaining spells and enemy abilities use a different subset of the following attacks, depending on which of the fiends she has infused:
- Lich's mastery of black magic grants Chronodia high-level spells:
- Blizzaga — Ice damage to the party.
- Flare — Non-elemental damage to the party.
- Kill — Inflicts instant death on a single party member. Without resistance to instant death, will kill anyone below 300HP. Not used by #203.
- Marilith grants her powerful fire-element magic:
- Kraken grants his signature ability:
- Tiamat grants her elemental dragon breaths:
- Thundaga — Lightning damage to the party.
- Blaze - Fire damage to the party. Only used by #200 (Tiamat-infused alone).
- Thunderbolt — Lightning damage to the party.
- Icestorm — Ice damage to the party.
- Poison Gas — Poison damage to the party.
The spell cycles of each version, as well as their chances to cast a spell each turn, are as follows:
- #196: (5/16 chance) Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow
- #197: (33/64 chance) Blizzaga → Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow → Flare → Kill → Flare
- #198: (13/32 chance) Firaga → Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow
- #199: (20/64 chance) Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow
- #200: (72/256 chance) Thundaga → Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow
- #201: (1/2 chance) Blizzaga → Firaga → Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow → Flare → Kill
- #202: (136/512 chance) Thundaga → Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow
- #203: (12/32 chance) Blizzaga → Flare → Firaga → Thundaga → Stop → Haste → Warp → Slow
And her skill cycles are:
- #199: (11/64 chance) Ink
- #200: (69/256 chance) Thunderbolt → Poison Gas → Icestorm → Blaze
- #202: (141/512 chance) Ink → Thunderbolt → Poison Gas → Icestorm
- #203: (5/32 chance) Ink → Thunderbolt → Poison Gas → Icestorm
Chronodia always uses Seal every fifth turn. This action is independent of her ability cycles and does not advance her current placement in either the spell or skill list. As a result, she breaks the normal maximum of 4 entries in her skill list.
When all commands are available to the player, the Seal has worn off, which provides an indication that Chronodia will use Seal in the next turn. Since Seal does no damage, no healing spells are needed, meaning the player gets a "free" round for attacking with everyone.
At one point in development, it may have been intended for Chronodia's physical attacks to inflict a status condition, because her physical attacks are set to check resistance to the Time element upon inflicting a status, but aren't given any status to inflict.
Strategy[]
While Chronodia is tougher than Omega and Shinryu, the strategies used to fight her are similar: the player should use the healing pot in the room before the battle to clear status effects and restore HP and MP.
During the opening section of the fight, when all abilities are available, the party should concentrate on stacking evasion buffs as fast as possible, as the most dangerous of Chronodia's attacks is her normal physical attack. The top two slots should use Blink or the Defender, while the other members use Invisira or the White Robe. Ideally, the entire team should reach the evasion cap bonus of 255 by rotating the user for the Defender and White Robe. Blink grants +80 evasion to the user, while Invisira grants +40 to all members, so the path to 255 for all members will change depending on how many White Magic users are in the party composition.
After maximizing evasion, if there are any characters with lower than 999 HP, they should use Giant's Tonics to reach it. If there are any characters not equipped with full elemental immunity, NulAll or a Light Curtain should be cast upon them. Then, if additional protection is desired, stacking Protera or Protect Drink can help mitigate damage if Chronodia breaks through evasion. A few Proteras can reduce Chronodia's attack to under 200 damage.
Primary physical damage dealers should then be buffed via Saber/Giant's Gloves, Haste, Temper, Speed Drink and Strength Tonics, using either items or magic depending on what is sealed. The higher versions of Chronodia have high Defense, severely lowering melee attacks' damage, so these buffs are mandatory if physical attacks are chosen. With enough attack boost stacking, physical damage dealers can hit for well over 4,000 damage per attack.
Non-elemental magic can deal decent damage immediately with no need for buffs. Flare from Black Wizard(s) is one of the strongest options, and they can use Judgment Staff to continue casting it when Magic is sealed. Multiple Judgment Staves are good to have in general, as several copies allow other members to keep dealing damage when Attack is sealed.
Even more powerful than Flare is Holy when cast by someone equipped with the Sage's Staff, which doubles Holy's damage. The Lightbringer allows anyone to cast Holy, but is not as accessible as Judgment Staff as the player needs to complete several full runs of Whisperwind Cove to attain multiple copies. However, if at least one Sage's Staff and Lightbringer is available to the team, they should equip the highest intelligence character with the Sage's Staff (most likely the Black Wizard) and have them use the Lightbringer while the Item command is unsealed. Otherwise, a White Wizard should keep the Sage's Staff since they can cast Holy innately.
For healing damage, the player should use Healaga if possible, and otherwise use a Rune Staff or powerful single target healing items such as X-Potions if the party has enough. Multiple Rune Staves may be worth acquiring if the team lacks a White Wizard, to provide stronger party heals during emergencies. If someone is knocked out the player should bring them back to life as soon as possible using Full-Life, Phoenix Down or Sage's Staff.
Versions[]
The following lists which seals are required to fight each form of Chronodia.
- #196 (base form)
- Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red
- #197 (with Lich)
- Blue, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red
- #198 (with Marilith)
- Blue, Blue, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red
- #199 (with Kraken)
- Blue, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Blue, Blue, Red
- #200 (with Tiamat)
- Blue, Blue, Blue, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red
- #201 (with Lich and Marilith)
- Blue, Red, Blue, Blue, Red, Red, Red, Red, Blue, Red
- #202 (with Kraken and Tiamat)
- Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Red
- #203 (with all Four Fiends, Chaos, and miscellaneous weapons)
- Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue
Other appearances[]
Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
Chrono is derived from the Greek word khronos, meaning "time".
Dia means "day" in Portuguese, Spanish, and Occitan.
In ancient Greek religion and folklore, Dia means "heavenly", "divine", or "she who belongs to Zeus". The name is attributed to several figures and treated like an honorific or title.