Shinryu, also known as Dragon Lord, is one of the two original superbosses in Final Fantasy V. Shinryu attacks the party when they inspect the monster-in-a-box containing the Ragnarok sword in the Interdimensional Rift's Inner Sanctum.
It can be argued whether Shinryu or Omega is the game's hardest boss, excluding the GBA- and the now discontinued 2013 Matrix Software version-exclusive bosses. While Shinryu has stronger attacks, its strongest attacks can be protected against, and it is weak against certain weapons due to being a dragon-type enemy (like the Dragon Lance stolen off a Crystal Dragon).
The thousand-year-old book in the library in the Interdimensional Rift states, "The dragon Shinryu came upon Omega's heels". In the Anthology version, the book refers to Shinryu as "Lord Dragon" despite the enemy still being called "Shinryu".
In the 2013 Matrix Software version, defeating Shinryu earns the Demon Dragon achievement. In the Pixel Remaster version, defeating Shinryu gives the "Ultimate Dragon" achievement.
Stats[]
Battle[]
Shinryu has no elemental weakness and absorbs holy element. It is vulnerable to darkness, silence, berserk and slow; however, it possesses a very high 95% magic evasion, making most status afflicting spells miss.
Shinryu's attacks define the battle's difficulty. It uses strong elemental attacks, the most dangerous being the Tidal Wave it uses on the first turn. Unguarded, Tidal Wave will inflict over 8,000 damage, wiping out all but the strongest party members. Shinryu has an arsenal of Blue Magic, as well as status inflicting attacks.
Roulette.
- Atomic Ray - Fire-elemental damage to all targets. Can be reflected.
- Ice Storm - Ice-elemental damage to all targets.
- Tidal Wave - Water-elemental damage to all targets.
- Lightning - Lightning-elemental damage to all targets equal to 1/4 of max HP.
- Maelstrom - Attempts to reduce all targets' HP to single digits.
- Demon Eye - Attempts to petrify a target.
- Poison Breath - Poison-elemental damage to all targets and sometimes inflicts poison.
- Zombie Breath - random damage to all targets and inflicts zombie if a target dies to the attack.
- Level 2 Old - those with levels divisible by 2 are inflicted with old; can be learned as a Blue Magic.
- Level 3 Flare - those with levels divisible by 3 get Flared; can be learned as a Blue Magic.
- Roulette - randomly kills a party member; can be learned as a Blue Magic.
- Mighty Guard - casts protect, shell, and float to Shinryu; can be reflected and learned as a Blue Magic.
The Dragon's Whisker can be stolen from Shinryu, and is the most powerful whip in the game. While it is not the only source of Dragon's Whiskers, Stingrays (the only other monster to drop it) are rare encounters and difficult to farm. If the player wishes to acquire several Dragon's Whiskers, they should steal and flee the battle with Shinryu repeatedly.
Strategy[]
A good strategy is to equip everybody with Coral Rings, Ice Shields and Angel Robes to absorb Shinryu's Tidal Wave and Ice Storm, and to nullify its Atomic Ray and Poison Breath. Ribbon can also prevent instant death from Roulette and petrify from Demon Eye. Masamune can be equipped on a Time Magic user to immediately cast Hastega when the battle starts.
It would be a good idea to set up and keep re-establishing Golem. If the player has Dualcast, they can use Golem in conjunction with a damaging summon like Bahamut.
An easy way of beating Shinryu is by making a character a Time Mage with the Mix ability and to cast Quick, then mix Eye Drops and a Dragon Fang to cast Dark Sigh to blind Shinryu, then mix a Turtle Shell and a Holy Water to cast Bacchus's Cider to inflict berserk. This makes Shinryu easy to defeat, as all it can do is attack but have Golem absorb it. The character with the Mix command can further mix a Turtle Shell and an Antidote to lower Shinryu's defense, and this can be used repeatedly. Zeninage and Meteor are good ways to deal damage.
Another way to defeat Shinryu is to use the Power Staff to inflict Berserk on Shinryu, then have a character as a Knight spend the whole fight !Guarding three HP-critical characters while they attack Shinryu.
One of the easiest ways to beat Shinryu takes lots of training beforehand. All characters must have Ninja and Dragoon mastered so that Freelancers will have a default Dual-Wield and Jump. The player should equip everybody with Coral Rings and two Dragon Lances each and have every character equip Jump. After the Coral Rings absorb Tidal Wave, everybody should use Jump. With a party at around level 50, Shinryu should be defeated after three party members descend.
Those looking to farm Dragon's Whiskers from Shinryu can place the cursor to memory in config and have someone as a Samurai or Freelancer with the Steal ability, and with the Masamune equipped, possibly while equipped with Thief's Gloves, though not entirely necessary. Another character with Hermes Sandals should Flee or Smoke immediately after the character with the Masamune acts, but before Shinryu makes a move. The player can rubber-band the action button and leave the game to keep on accumulating Dragon's Whiskers.
Other appearances[]
Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]
Shinryu from Final Fantasy V appears as an enemy in Pictlogica Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]
This section about an enemy in Final Fantasy Record Keeper is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
Shinryu is the Japanese on'yomi name for Shénlóng, literally "god/divine dragon", an important ancient dragon in Chinese mythology. It is said to preside over storms and rain, and can bring disastrous drought, thunderstorms and general bad weather if it feels neglected and/or angered.
Though Shinryu's name is taken from the East Asian dragon which normally is depicted with four claws and no wings, it does not greatly resemble the mythological Shénlóng, as it originally had five claws on each hand as opposed to four as a way to show higher-rank (as well as sharing the same azure color as another mythological dragon, the Qīnglóng/Seiryu).
The Final Fantasy depiction of Shinryu's most iconic recurring design more closely resembles the European wyvern, a dragon-like serpent with two claws and two wings.