Locke (Final Fantasy VI party member)

Locke is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is playable throughout the World of Balance and is required for several storyline segments, and is an optional recruit in the World of Ruin. His skillset aligns with the Thief class, but his actual job title is "Adventurer", reflecting he is a bit more physically adept than Thieves usually are in other titles.

Battle[]

Stats[]

Locke has well rounded physical stats with good Strength and decent Defense, but low magic stats. His Speed is the highest in the game, 40, and his base Evasion, 15, is also high.

Name	Initial Stats
Strength	37
Speed	40
Stamina	31
Magic	28
Attack	14
Defense	46
Evasion	15%
Magic Defense	23
Magic Evasion	2%
Escape Success	5
HP Gain	48
MP Gain	7
Level Averaging	+2

Level	HP	MP	EXP
1	48	7	0
2	59	11	32
3	71	15	96
4	85	20	208
5	102	25	400
6	122	31	672
7	144	37	1056
8	168	44	1552
9	194	52	2184
10	221	60	2976
11	249	69	3936
12	279	78	5080
13	314	88	6432
14	353	98	7992
15	397	108	9784
16	447	118	11840
17	501	128	14152
18	558	139	16736
19	619	150	19616
20	684	161	22832
21	751	172	26360
22	820	183	30232
23	892	195	34456
24	968	207	39056
25	1047	219	44072
26	1129	231	49464
27	1215	243	55288
28	1305	256	61568
29	1400	269	68304
30	1499	282	75496
31	1599	295	83184
32	1700	308	91384
33	1802	322	100088
34	1904	336	109344
35	2007	350	119136
36	2111	364	129504
37	2217	378	140464
38	2324	393	152008
39	2432	408	164184
40	2542	423	176976
41	2653	438	190416
42	2766	453	204520
43	2880	469	219320
44	2996	485	234808
45	3113	501	251000
46	3232	517	267936
47	3352	533	285600
48	3474	550	304040
49	3599	567	323248
50	3727	584	343248
51	3857	600	364064
52	3988	615	385696
53	4121	629	408160
54	4255	642	431488
55	4391	654	455680
56	4528	665	480776
57	4667	675	506760
58	4809	684	533680
59	4953	692	561528
60	5098	699	590320
61	5245	705	620096
62	5393	710	650840
63	5543	715	682600
64	5695	721	715368
65	5848	727	749160
66	6003	734	784016
67	6159	741	819920
68	6317	748	856920
69	6477	756	895016
70	6639	764	934208
71	6799	772	974536
72	6954	780	1016000
73	7105	788	1058640
74	7250	795	1102456
75	7390	802	1147456
76	7526	809	1193648
77	7658	815	1241080
78	7784	821	1289744
79	7904	827	1339672
80	8021	833	1390872
81	8134	838	1443368
82	8244	843	1497160
83	8352	848	1552264
84	8457	853	1608712
85	8559	858	1666512
86	8659	863	1725688
87	8757	868	1786240
88	8852	874	1848184
89	8944	880	1911552
90	9034	886	1976352
91	9122	892	2042608
92	9209	898	2110320
93	9294	905	2179504
94	9377	913	2250192
95	9459	922	2322392
96	9539	932	2396128
97	9622	943	2471400
98	9708	955	2548224
99	9796	968	2637112

Equipment[]

Locke mostly specializes in light equipment. He begins the game with a Dagger, Leather Cap and Leather Armor. His ultimate weapon in the GBA and later versions is the Zwill Crossblade and is won from the Gold Dragon in Dragons' Den. Locke is unusual in that he has an "ultimate weapon" in versions of Final Fantasy VI predating the GBA version, the Valiant Knife.

Locke can wield daggers, boomerangs, and some swords. His armor consists of universal shields, hats, and light armor, and some helemts and heavy armor.

Due to his unique ability having little offensive utility, Locke's performance in battle is tied to what weapons the player can acquire for him at the time. His access to throwing weapons lets him deal full damage from the back row, and later the Flametongue, Icebrand, and Thunder Blade let him use elemental attacks. Late in the World of Balance, the Hawkeye can be an extremely powerful weapon, and the Assassin's Dagger lets him inflict Instant Death on targets.

In the World of Ruin, Locke's offensive potential is greatly boosted by his exclusive weapons. The Wing Edge gives him great stat boosts and a chance to inflict Instant Death, and the player can acquire two to let him dual-wield. The Gladius, Ragnarok, and Lightbringer are all powerful weapons and the latter also have good stat bonuses, and the Valiant Knife ignores defense.

Locke has an important distinction over other characters in that he is able to equip two weapons that ignore defense; the Valiant Knife and the Ultima Weapon. While the mechanics of these weapons are polar opposite (the Valiant Knife is stronger at low HP, the Ultima Weapon is stronger at high HP), the innately high base power of the Valiant Knife means it can still deal heavy damage at high HP levels. This makes Locke the best character for the Master's Scroll and Genji Glove combo that allows a character to deal eight attacks a turn: with training to his Strength via level up bonuses, Locke can easily hit the damage cap with every strike.

Weapons[]

Armor[]

Abilities[]

Main article: Steal in Final Fantasy VI

Locke's unique ability is Steal, which allows him to attempt to steal an item from an enemy. The odds of Steal's success are as follows:

\textrm{Success}\,\,\textrm{rate} = (50 + \textrm{Locke's}\,\,\textrm{level} - \textrm{Target's}\,\,\textrm{level})/128.

If Locke is equipped with a Thief's Bracer, the success rate of Steal is doubled.

All enemies have two items to be stolen: a "common" item with a 7/8 chance to be stolen and a "rare" item with a 1/8 chance to be stolen. The game determines what item can be stolen at the moment of Steal, not at the start of the battle. If an enemy does not have a common or rare item to steal when the algorithm determines that is the item that would be stolen, Steal fails.

Equipping Locke with the Brigand's Glove upgrades Steal into Mug, which allows Locke to attack an enemy while attempting to steal an item. The stealing mechanics rate of Mug are the same as Steal. When using Mug, special effects of weapons, like Instant Death, ignoring defense, etc., are ignored. Weapons that have a chance to cast spells when attacking can still trigger the spell, but will do so after the steal attempt and will not count as a steal attempt themselves.

Equipping Locke with a Genji Glove or the Master's Scroll allows him to attempt to steal twice and four times when using Mug, respectively. However, due to a glitch, if Locke successfully steals from multiple enemies at once when using Mug with the Master's Scroll, only the first item will be received and subsequent items are lost and those enemies cannot be stolen from again.

During the Occupation of South Figaro, Locke must disguise himself while moving around town. When battling a Cadet or a Merchant, when a successful Steal attempt is triggered, Locke will also steal his opponent's clothes and put them on. His gameplay while disguised does not change but for his sprite. It is possible for Locke to steal an outfit he is already wearing, in which case the enemy will still be replaced with a Birthday Suit enemy and Locke will act out putting on their outfit.

Locke's Desperation Attack is Mirage Dive, which deals magical damage to one enemy.

Quests[]

Recruitment[]

In the World of Balance, Locke is a required party member from when first introduced to the player in Narshe up to when the player reaches the Returners' Hideout. He has his own segment in the Three Scenarios where he is the primary player character during the Occupation of South Figaro. After the Battle for the Frozen Esper, Locke is available as a party member. Following the player completing the story events of Zozo, Locke is a required party member along with Celes, up until the player completes the Magitek Research Facility. He is available as a party member again afterward until after the Imperial banquet, when he is a required character while traveling to Thamasa.

In the World of Ruin, Locke is recruited by reaching the end of the Phoenix Cave. As the cave is a difficult dungeon that requires two party members to explore, Locke is likely one of the last characters that will be recruited in the World of Ruin. Recruiting him here in the mobile/Steam version earns the More Than King achievement.

Story role[]

When the player can first travel to Kohlingen, if Locke is in the party the player can view two flashback scenes establishing his past with his deceased lover Rachel. These flashbacks are triggered by entering the north-west and north-east houses in the village.

Locke has a few optional dialogue lines that are substituted over the generic dialogue used otherwise when the party meets Ramuh in Zozo. As Locke has the lowest index number of any party member other than Terra, any unique lines he has here will trigger in place of other characters with unique dialogue.

In the World of Ruin, Locke is required to be in the party to unlock the doors in Narshe.

When the party dresses up Gau to meet his father, Locke will have dialogue in the scene if he has been recruited and is in the party when initiating the sidequest at Gau's father's house.

If the player did not recruit Locke before completing Kefka's Tower, Celes's ending scene that she shares with Locke will be different, where Setzer dives to catch her from falling instead of Locke.