Strago (Final Fantasy VI party member)

Strago is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is a Blue Mage, able to mimic the magical attacks of monsters. He joins the party late in the World of Balance before the game shifts to the World of Ruin.

Battle[]

Stats[]

Strago's stats are all-around poor. His Speed and Stamina are the worst in the game and he has the third-worst Strength after Relm and Gogo. His other stats are subpar with the exception of Magic and Magic Defense, which are above average.

Name	Initial Stats
Strength	28
Speed	25
Stamina	19
Magic	34
Attack	10
Defense	33
Evasion	6%
Magic Defense	27
Magic Evasion	7%
Escape Success	3
HP Gain	35
MP Gain	13
Level Averaging	+2

Level	HP	MP	EXP
1	35	13	0
2	46	17	32
3	58	21	96
4	72	26	208
5	89	31	400
6	109	37	672
7	131	43	1056
8	155	50	1552
9	181	58	2184
10	208	66	2976
11	236	75	3936
12	266	84	5080
13	301	94	6432
14	340	104	7992
15	384	114	9784
16	434	124	11840
17	488	134	14152
18	545	145	16736
19	606	156	19616
20	671	167	22832
21	738	178	26360
22	807	189	30232
23	879	201	34456
24	955	213	39056
25	1034	225	44072
26	1116	237	49464
27	1202	249	55288
28	1292	262	61568
29	1387	275	68304
30	1486	288	75496
31	1586	301	83184
32	1687	314	91384
33	1789	328	100088
34	1891	342	109344
35	1994	356	119136
36	2098	370	129504
37	2204	384	140464
38	2311	399	152008
39	2419	414	164184
40	2529	429	176976
41	2640	444	190416
42	2753	459	204520
43	2867	475	219320
44	2983	491	234808
45	3100	507	251000
46	3219	523	267936
47	3339	539	285600
48	3461	556	304040
49	3586	573	323248
50	3714	590	343248
51	3844	606	364064
52	3975	621	385696
53	4108	635	408160
54	4242	648	431488
55	4378	660	455680
56	4515	671	480776
57	4654	681	506760
58	4796	690	533680
59	4940	698	561528
60	5085	705	590320
61	5232	711	620096
62	5380	716	650840
63	5530	721	682600
64	5682	727	715368
65	5835	733	749160
66	5990	740	784016
67	6146	747	819920
68	6304	754	856920
69	6464	762	895016
70	6626	770	934208
71	6786	778	974536
72	6941	786	1016000
73	7092	794	1058640
74	7237	801	1102456
75	7377	808	1147456
76	7513	815	1193648
77	7645	821	1241080
78	7771	827	1289744
79	7891	833	1339672
80	8008	839	1390872
81	8121	844	1443368
82	8231	849	1497160
83	8339	854	1552264
84	8444	859	1608712
85	8546	864	1666512
86	8646	869	1725688
87	8744	874	1786240
88	8839	880	1848184
89	8931	886	1911552
90	9021	892	1976352
91	9109	898	2042608
92	9196	904	2110320
93	9281	911	2179504
94	9364	919	2250192
95	9446	928	2322392
96	9526	938	2396128
97	9609	949	2471400
98	9695	961	2548224
99	9783	974	2637112

Equipment[]

Strago's weapons draw is limited to rods, maces, and some daggers. His armor options consist of universal shields, robes, and creature costumes that are exclusive to him and Relm. He joins the party equipped with a Mythril Rod, Mythril Shield, Plumed Hat, and a Cotton Robe. His ultimate weapon is the Stardust Rod.

Strago's weapons do not deal much damage on their own due to his low Strength, but he can use his various magical rods to cast spells when attacking. The Healing Rod has high power and ignores defense, which lets him be powerful against undead and heal the party without need for magic or items. The Magus Rod offers +7 Magic, the highest boost possible, and can be acquired early in the World of Ruin and in multiples for Strago to dual wield via a Genji Glove.

The creature costumes exclusive to Strago and Relm are very effective for the points where they can be acquired, and the Behemoth Suit gives +6 to all stats and has defenses comparable to Genji Armor, improving on Strago's worst traits. Coupled with the proper hat and shield, Strago can overcome his poor base stats and be just as effective as any other character, though his niche remains spellcasting.

Weapons[]

Armor[]

Abilities[]

Main article: Lore (Final Fantasy VI)

Animated sprite of Strago using a Lore (SNES/PS/GBA).

Lore is Strago's variant of Blue Magic. When he sees an enemy use a certain attack, at the end of the battle he will learn it as a Lore. Strago must actually "see" an enemy use a Lore he can learn to learn it—if he is afflicted with KO, Petrify, Zombie, Darkness, Sleep, Confuse, Berserk, Stop, Hidden, Frozen, or Rage (though Strago cannot use Rage in a normal playthrough) at the time the Lore was used, he will not learn it. However, if he "sees" the Lore being used and is then afflicted with one of these statuses when the battle ends, he will still learn the Lore. The battle must be won though; if the player flees from it, the spell will not be learned. Strago is able to learn compatible Lores used by Gau under the effect of Rage, and by Relm via Sketch and Control.

Strago's Lores offer him a level of versatility not available to other party members through magic or espers. He has easy access to Water and Wind-elemental attacks, and through manipulation of the party's gil, Lv.? Holy can be used to hit all enemies with a powerful Holy-elemental attack. Grand Delta is a non-elemental attack that is functionally a weaker version of Ultima, but easier to learn and with a slightly lower MP cost. Defensively, White Wind can be just as effective as a high-level healing spell if used properly, and Mighty Guard grants the party useful stat buffs. Dischord is useful for item farming, as it halves the enemy's level and makes steal more likely to succeed.

Strago's Lores all have the benefits of bypassing reflect and Runic, which makes him a good teammate for Celes when planning to make heavy use of her Runic ability. He is also a good choice to fight the Gold Dragon in Dragons' Den, as he can use White Wind to heal the party, ignoring the Gold Dragon's permanent Runic status, and he can use Tsunami and Aqua Breath to hit the Gold Dragon's weakness to water.

Strago's Desperation Attack is Sabre Soul. It deals no damage and inflicts Instant Death on a single target.

Quests[]

Recruitment[]

In the World of Balance, Strago joins the party in Thamasa at the start of the Burning Home. He is a required character until completion of the Esper Caves.

In the World of Ruin, Strago is found in at the Cultists' Tower. The player must enter the area with Relm in the party, and she will call out to Strago and bring him to his senses and he will rejoin the party.

Story role[]

When the player regains the Blackjack after the story events at Thamasa, a new NPC will be in the town, Gungho, an old friend of Strago's. If Strago is in the party when speaking to him, a brief cutscene will play where the two speak.

If Strago and Relm are in the party when the party visits Thamasa in the World of Ruin, a cutscene will initiate of Strago learning Gungho was injured by Hidon, a monster that lives on Ebot's Rock. After viewing this scene, a cave will appear on Ebot's Rock north of Thamasa. Hidon is the only enemy who uses Strago's ultimate Lore, Grand Delta. (In the GBA version, the superboss Omega Weapon can use it as well.) The path to Hidon is blocked by a treasure chest that demands the party feed it Coral before it will let them pass, but the chest will not move unless Strago is currently in the party.

When the party first enters Kefka's Tower, Strago has dialogue in the cutscene that occurs. If he is not recruited, Celes has additional dialogue similar to his.

If the player did not re-recruit Strago, Relm's scene when fleeing Kefka's Tower in the ending is different.