Shadow (Final Fantasy VI party member)

Shadow is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is an Assassin who can throw weapons for tremendous damage and can have his dog Interceptor block and counter attacks. He has excellent evasion stats, but to have him in the party in the first segment of the game, the player must recruit him with money and he may randomly leave at various points. Resting in inns with Shadow in the party sometimes triggers dreams that let the player glimpse into his past.

Battle[]

Stats[]

Shadow has high Speed and Strength, but average Stamina and Magic. His most standout stat is Evasion; at 28, he has far and away the highest Evasion in the game.

Name	Initial Stats
Strength	39
Speed	38
Stamina	30
Magic	33
Attack	23
Defense	47
Evasion	28%
Magic Defense	25
Magic Evasion	9%
Escape Success	5
HP Gain	51
MP Gain	6
Level Averaging	+0

Level	HP	MP	EXP
1	51	6	0
2	62	10	32
3	74	14	96
4	88	19	208
5	105	24	400
6	125	30	672
7	147	36	1056
8	171	43	1552
9	197	51	2184
10	224	59	2976
11	252	68	3936
12	282	77	5080
13	317	87	6432
14	356	97	7992
15	400	107	9784
16	450	117	11840
17	504	127	14152
18	561	138	16736
19	622	149	19616
20	687	160	22832
21	754	171	26360
22	823	182	30232
23	895	194	34456
24	971	206	39056
25	1050	218	44072
26	1132	230	49464
27	1218	242	55288
28	1308	255	61568
29	1403	268	68304
30	1502	281	75496
31	1602	294	83184
32	1703	307	91384
33	1805	321	100088
34	1907	335	109344
35	2010	349	119136
36	2114	363	129504
37	2220	377	140464
38	2327	392	152008
39	2435	407	164184
40	2545	422	176976
41	2656	437	190416
42	2769	452	204520
43	2883	468	219320
44	2999	484	234808
45	3116	500	251000
46	3235	516	267936
47	3355	532	285600
48	3477	549	304040
49	3602	566	323248
50	3730	583	343248
51	3860	599	364064
52	3991	614	385696
53	4124	628	408160
54	4258	641	431488
55	4394	653	455680
56	4531	664	480776
57	4670	674	506760
58	4812	683	533680
59	4956	691	561528
60	5101	698	590320
61	5248	704	620096
62	5396	709	650840
63	5546	714	682600
64	5698	720	715368
65	5851	726	749160
66	6006	733	784016
67	6162	740	819920
68	6320	747	856920
69	6480	755	895016
70	6642	763	934208
71	6802	771	974536
72	6957	779	1016000
73	7108	787	1058640
74	7253	794	1102456
75	7393	801	1147456
76	7529	808	1193648
77	7661	814	1241080
78	7787	820	1289744
79	7907	826	1339672
80	8024	832	1390872
81	8137	837	1443368
82	8247	842	1497160
83	8355	847	1552264
84	8460	852	1608712
85	8562	857	1666512
86	8662	862	1725688
87	8760	867	1786240
88	8855	873	1848184
89	8947	879	1911552
90	9037	885	1976352
91	9125	891	2042608
92	9212	897	2110320
93	9297	904	2179504
94	9380	912	2250192
95	9462	921	2322392
96	9542	931	2396128
97	9625	942	2471400
98	9711	954	2548224
99	9799	967	2637112

Equipment[]

Shadow joins the party equipped with a Kunai and Ninja Gear. His weapons draw is limited to daggers and ninja daggers, but he can use almost all of them. His armor is lightweight, consisting of universal shields, hats, and light armor. His ultimate weapon is the Oborozuki.

Several of Shadow's weapons have a chance to inflict Instant Death, which makes him effective in normal battles, but puts him at a disadvantage when facing undead enemies as any undead enemy struck by an Instant Death attack will always trigger it and it will heal them to full HP. When facing such enemies, Shadow must have a back-up weapon or rely on his Throw ability to deal damage. He also gets some extra utility from the Thief's Knife, which has a chance to trigger Mug when attacking. This lets Shadow act as a secondary Thief in tandem with Locke.

Shadow's equipment draw is particularly notable in the World of Balance for the high Evasion and Magic Evasion he can achieve. When equipped with a Thief Knife, a Priest's Miter, and two Zephyr Cloaks, he has 68 Evasion and 49% Magic Evasion, the highest values achievable in the World of Balance. This gives Shadow a very good chance to evade attacks when possible.

Shadow's high Evasion and Magic Evasion continue to grow in the World of Ruin with access to better equipment. A Tortoise Shield offers pitiful defenses unless Shadow is under Imp status, but will continue to offer high Magic Defense with +30 Evasion and Magic Evasion. A Tortoise Shield combined with two Zephyr Cloaks gives Shadow total +50 Evasion and Magic Evasion, even before bonuses from his other equipment are taken into account. Unusually, given his preference for light armor, Shadow is able to equip Genji Armor, which has high defenses and good stat boosts. With the proper build, Shadow can be an extremely durable character in both defensive and evasive stats.

Weapons[]

Armor[]

Abilities[]

FFVI Android Throw — Shadow throws shuriken.

Shadow's unique ability is Throw, which lets him throw an equippable weapon or a specialized throwing weapon at opponents. The thrown item is spent and removed from the player's inventory. Several specialized items exist solely to be thrown: the Shuriken, Fuma Shuriken, and Pinwheel deal physical damage to a single target, and the Flame Scroll, Water Scroll, and Lightning Scroll deal magical fire, water, and lightning-elemental damage to all enemies, respectively. Two scrolls are supportive: the Invisibility Scroll grants the user Invisible status and the Shadow Scroll grants them Blink.

Shadow can also throw other weapons: daggers, swords (except the Ultima Weapon), spears, ninja daggers, katanas, rods (except for the Flame Rod, Ice Rod, and Thunder Rod), throwing weapons, and gambler's items (except for the Dice and Fixed Dice).

In the World of Balance, Throw makes Shadow a powerful attacker. Shurikens are cheap and easily bought in bulk, and Throw ignores defense and can deal heavy damage. Shadow's elemental scrolls are almost as powerful as tier-three magic spells and cannot be blocked by Runic or reflect. The Water Scroll is one of the few ways to deal water-elemental damage in the Super NES release; in the Game Boy Advance and 2014 version, the additions of the Flood spell and the Leviathan summon lessens this importance.

In the World of Ruin, Fuma Shurikens are powerful enough to have utility for the rest of the game, but Shadow has the potential to deal far more damage if the player has the money to invest in him. Six of the game's eight elements are covered by weapons sold in the World of Ruin: Flametongue (fire), Icebrand (ice), Thunder Blade (lightning), Trident (water), Gravity Rod (earth), and Holy Rod (holy). There is also the Poison Rod for poison and the Sakura for wind, though they must be purchased in bulk in the World of Balance. When throwing these weapons at an enemy weak to those elements, Shadow can easily hit the damage cap.

The downside is that buying such weapons in even small quantities is extremely expensive, and can run well into hundreds of thousands of gil. If the player has the money to spare, or buys a few weapons at a time for upcoming dungeons, they can be extremely useful to Shadow. A much cheaper but more time-consuming way to boost Shadow's damage is by visiting Dragon's Neck Coliseum, where Fuma Shurikens can repeatedly be bet to win Pinwheels that have higher power. If this is not an appealing option either, Shadow can still deal fine damage with Fuma Shurikens with training to his Strength.

Shadow possesses a permanent, invisible status where, when he is attacked by a physical blow that could be evaded, Interceptor will block it and nullify the damage. There is then a chance Interceptor will counterattack with either Wild Fang or Takedown, both of which deal non-elemental magic damage to one opponent, but will miss if they are under Float status. Interceptor will not aid Shadow on the Floating Continent, and if the player does not wait for Shadow at the end of the Floating Continent, Relm will have Interceptor status instead in the World of Ruin.

Because Interceptor is considered a status effect, it is vulnerable to the Rippler bug, which allows the player to transfer the Interceptor status to another party member or an enemy. If the enemy is then KO'd, Interceptor is lost forever.

Shadow's Desperation Attack is Shadow Fang that deals magical damage to one enemy and inflicts Sap.

Coliseum fighter[]

FFVI Android DNC Combantant Select — Shadow chosen at the Coliseum.

Shadow makes a good character to use in Dragon's Neck Coliseum, as he will never use Throw and it is easy to avoid teaching him any magic. His weaponry to inflict Instant Death give him a chance to win many fights instantly, and he has the Kagenui that randomly casts Stop. Defensively, his high evasion stats combined with Interceptor allow him to avoid many attacks.

Quests[]

Recruitment[]

The first opportunity to recruit Shadow is in Sabin's segment of the Three Scenarios. He appears at Gau's father's house and can be accepted into the party or ignored. Once the Imperial Camp is completed, Shadow has a 1/16 chance of leaving at the end of every standard battle won by the player. This is suspended while aboard the Phantom Train and during the scenes in the Imperial Camp, and he will also not leave if he is the only party member not under KO'd, Petrify, or Zombie status. He will not leave in battles with a nonstandard formation (a surrounded, side, or back attack). He will leave automatically when the party arrives at the Baren Falls.

The next chance to have Shadow join is in Kohlingen. If the party has an empty slot, Shadow will offer his services for 3,000 gil. He is liable to leave at any time after winning a battle with the same conditions as before, so recruiting him is a risky prospect, as the party could be left short a member in Zozo, one of the most dangerous areas of the game up to that point. After meeting Ramuh in Zozo, Shadow will automatically leave the party. It is possible to ignore Shadow until Zozo is completed and then return to Kohlingen and recruit him then. However, once the party begins the Opera House segment, Shadow will leave during the first act. Additionally, Shadow will leave if the party returns to Narshe at any point during this portion of the game.

When traveling to Thamasa, Shadow will be a party member with Terra and Locke. He is only present until the party stays at the inn in Thamasa, then leaves.

Aboard the Floating Continent, Shadow will appear near the save point on the western tip of the island. A collapsed path nearby deeper into the area will not open until Shadow is spoken to and accepted into the party. He will remain until the Ultima Weapon is defeated, or if the party chooses to leave the Floating Continent and return to the Blackjack, at which point he will leave. On revisits to the Floating Continent after leaving, Shadow will still be by the save point and will join the party if spoken to, but the collapsed path will open without him and he can be ignored.

FFVI PC Shadow's Return — The party waited for Shadow on the Floating Continent.

To permanently recruit Shadow in the World of Ruin, the party must wait for him to meet up with them before fleeing the Floating Continent. With a six minute time limit to escape, the party must reach the far eastern tip of the continent and trigger the dialogue box to leap onto the Blackjack or wait for Shadow. As long as the party triggers this dialogue with more than five seconds remaining on the timer, Shadow will appear with five seconds left and will automatically escape with them; if there is less than five seconds left when the box closes, Shadow will appear instantly as long as there was more than five seconds when the box appeared. The player does not need to stand in the same spot for the duration of the timer, but must remain in the general vicinity of the eastern tip for Shadow to appear. Assuming Shadow escaped with the party, in the World of Ruin he can be found inside the Cave on the Veldt. When the party approaches him, they will fight the Behemoth King, and then take Shadow back to Thamasa. At this point the party can go to Dragon's Neck Coliseum and bet the Ichigeki (found in the Cave on the Veldt or metamorphed from Ninja, Covert, or Outsider) to face Shadow as a boss, and he will join the party when defeated. He will still join the party even if he wins the match, but the Ichigeki will be lost.

If the party does not wait for Shadow when fleeing the Floating Continent, he will not be available to recruit in the World of Ruin.

Boss[]

FFVI Android DNC Shadow Battle — Shadow fought at the Coliseum.

Main article: Shadow (boss)

Shadow must be defeated as a boss in Dragon's Neck Coliseum to recruit him in the World of Ruin. The battle is easy, as Shadow only has the Attack command, but the random factor of the Coliseum might make the player's character waste turns on useless spells or abilities. Defeating Shadow recruits him into the party, this time permanently.

Story role[]

If the player avoided talking to Shadow prior to one of the occasions where he will join the party—Gau's father's house, Kohlingen, and Albrook—then a scene introducing him and allowing the player to name him will trigger at that time. If the player avoided speaking to Shadow before beginning Sabin's scenario and reaches the Imperial Camp without him, there will be an alternate line where Sabin is surprised at the presence of the Empire, as Shadow had not warned him of the camp. Because of how this dialogue is coded (it is dependent on the player having met and named Shadow), it is possible to meet Shadow in South Figaro and then avoid him in Sabin's scenario, and the alternate line will not trigger.

If Shadow was not spoken to in South Figaro and the player travels to the Imperial Camp and recruits Cyan with only Sabin, they can return to Gau's father's house to witness a small graphic oversight: when the scene of Shadow's introduction plays, if Cyan is the party leader, he will not disappear when the rest of the screen fades out.

When meeting Ramuh in Zozo, Shadow has an optional line of dialogue in reaction to Ramuh's sacrifice if he is in the party. This is the only instance in the game of Shadow having alternate dialogue during a cutscene.

Dreams[]

FFVI Android Shadow's Second Dream Flashback — A scene from Shadow's dream.

If the party stays at any inn while Shadow is a party member, there is a 50% chance to view a dream. This does not work in Thamasa, Figaro Castle, Gau's father's house, Narshe's weapon shop and Mobliz's relic shop.

There are four dreams, which, when viewed in sequence, tell the story of Shadow's past. The player can stay at an inn over and over again until all dreams have been viewed. Each dream plays once. A fifth dream is shown while rescuing Shadow in the Cave on the Veldt in the World of Ruin, and a sixth dream belonging to Relm is only viewable if the player allows Shadow to perish on the Floating Continent. All four dreams can be viewed in either the World of Balance or the World of Ruin.

In the mobile/PC version, viewing the four dreams by resting at an inn with him in the party earns the Road to Carnage achievement.

Bugs[]

Because of the means by which Shadow leaves the party in the World of Balance, it is possible to trigger the KO'd party bug and empty party glitch with him. The former causes a Game Over, the latter will freeze the game.