Four New Espers

"Hey, aren't you...? You were with the Returners, right? Me, too! I thought everyone else had been wiped out! I don't know if there's anything I can do for you now, but I did hear something you might be interested to know... Apparently, four espers escaped from that Magitek Research Facility not long before you guys snuck in there. There's no way of knowing if they're still alive, but if you could find them, I bet they would lend you their power!"

When you return to Nikeah for the first time following the reshaping of the world, you'll likely notice a discolored citizen standing right where you entered. As soon as you move into the town, he'll approach you and give you that message regarding four new espers that have been hidden in the Game Boy Advance version of Final Fantasy 6. Three of the four espers boast powerful new spells, and two of them offer level up bonuses that can't be found on any other esper in the game. They're definitely worth tracking down. While Celes was off napping for a year after Kefka moved the statues on the Floating Continent, a few people, like this man, came out of the woodwork and are around towns for you to speak to. If you've played previous versions of the game, you'll probably notice them right away because they're either in a place where nobody was standing before or are a strangely-colored version of normal NPCs.

Three of the new espers can be sought immediately after getting the airship, Leviathan, Cactuar, and Gilgamesh. You're likely to not be able to win the battles that each of them requires, though, until you've done some sufficient leveling.

Cactuar

The first esper you're most likely to be able to acquire is Cactuar. It's recommended for each member in your party of four to have 3,001 HP or more, and a couple should have access to Curaga. Head to Maranda, and west of the entrance will be an oddly-colored thief. "Do you know what a Cactuar is? I'd been hunting the little varmints last time I was out in the desert, when all of a sudden, a huge one attacked me! A monster of that size has to have some good treasure. I'd bet my right eye on it!" Indeed, there is a large Cactuar in the desert south of Maranda, but in order to unlock it, you need to slay 10 of his tinier comrades. These are simple enough to defeat - bring along somebody like Edgar, Sabin, or Shadow who can use powerful specials that will always hit, and they'll die in one turn. After finishing off ten of them, move to the southwest area of the desert and step right in the middle and you'll face the Gigantuar.

Gigantuar Bestiary #345	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	91	30000	4500	1111	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	15	18	200	200	200	200
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	None			None
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness
				None
	Lores			Command Immunities
	None			Control

The Gigantuar loves spraying members of your party with needles, doing exactly 1,000 damage a pop. If each member of your party has enough to survive three of these attacks, you're good to go. Keep hammering him with attacks - he has similar evasion techniques as the regular Cactuars, so use specials - and healing with Curaga each turn, so that you're prepared when he uses his final attack, which is 10 straight attacks of 1,000 damage each. If you're set up correctly and have full health at this point, it would take 16 attacks to annihilate your party, so there's nothing to worry about. He has 30,000 HP.

After your victory, you'll receive the Cactuar magicite, which doesn't teach any new spells, but gives a +2 bonus to speed at level up, which is a tremendous boost that no other esper can match. It can also be summoned to cast 1000 Needles or occasionally "10,000 Needles?"

Leviathan

Leviathan is your next target. Before getting the airship, you likely saw a new citizen lingering in South Figaro. Right next to the chocobo stable is a man standing idly next to two bushes. If you speak to him, he says, "Not too long ago when I was out sailing, I saw a huge shadow pass by beneath the water." The only thing you can make of this is that if you get on the water, you may encounter an enemy. You can hop on a boat either right here or from the Nikeah harbor, and either way, your party will enter a cutscene on the boat where they will spot the sea monster. He'll attack the boat, your party will fly overboard, and you'll immediately enter a battle. As an aside, this is the only battle in the World of Ruin in which Mog can acquire his Water Harmony dance, so if you missed getting it before the cataclysm, now's your last chance.

Leviathan Bestiary #346	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	91	32000	7000	10000	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	22	14	20	140	120	20
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	None			None
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness
				None
	Lores			Command Immunities
	Tsunami			Control

Leviathan is no laughing matter, as his Tsunami and El Niño attacks can do very high damage to everybody in your party. At around levels 45-50 you should have over 3,000 HP, and his Tsunami will deal around 1,000, though he will sometimes use it back-to-back. El Niño can do around 1,500 damage to everybody, and he also attacks many times consecutively for more than 1,000 a pop. He will occasionally throw out Aqua Breath, but it's less powerful than Tsunami and isn't much to worry about. Make sure you're at a high enough level where you can survive, and dedicate somebody with Curaga. If you don't have it, high magic power and Cura is a risky shot. Keep hammering him with powerful special techniques. He has 32,000 HP to whittle down.

After winning the battle, everybody will be back aboard the boat and you'll receive the Leviathan magicite, which teaches a new spell, Flood, at a 2x rate. At level up, the wearer will receive 2 bonus points to Stamina. Leviathan can also be summoned to use a Tidal Wave attack.

Gilgamesh

Also available immediately after getting the airship is the Gilgamesh esper. Though Gilgamesh is very strong, what will likely hold you back from getting him this early is the damage to your pocketbook. Travel to Jidoor and head to the Auction House, outside of which a new NPC will be standing. He says, "I heard they're going to put a rare sword up for auction. I can't decide if I should bid or not." Enter the Auction House and sit down for bidding, and if you're lucky, the item that will be for sale will be the Excalipoor sword. The bidding will go up in a hurry and you'll have to spend 500,000 gil if you want to buy it. If you have enough money, snatch it up, as it's your only path to getting this new esper.

Once you have this terrible sword, prepare a party around level 50 and head to the Colloseum. Wager the Excalipoor and you'll fight an Onion Dasher for an unknown item. The enemy is simple and you'll win a Merit Award, a nice relic. But after the battle's over, a voice will come out of nowhere. "Hey, that's quite a rare sword you've got there... I think... ...I'll take that sword for my own!" The battle will begin.

Gilgamesh Bestiary #347	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	Humanoid	97	38000	3200	0	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	51	8	45	173	212	30
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	Common: Genji Shield Rare: Genji Glove			Common: Genji Armor Rare: Genji Helm
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness
	None			None
	Lores			Command Immunities
	1000 Needles, Aero, Quasar			Control

Gilgamesh doesn't seem all that daunting at the beginning of the fight, using regular attacks and more or less hitting for around 1,000 damage. It's not until you do enough damage to him that he starts to get angry and fighting to his full potential. He'll use Protect, Shell, and Haste on himself, then begin jumping on party members, attacking for more damage, and throwing terribly powerful swords at your party that will deal immediate death. If you're not ready for this, he will waste you easily. Keep somebody casting Curaga every turn, and if you can spare it, have somebody backing them up as well with life magic if necessary. Keep a steady assault on him with highly damaging moves and he'll go down. He has 38,000 HP.

Gilgamesh also has fantastic Genji equipment to steal, and he'll drop either a Genji Helm or Genji Armor upon winning the battle, so it's even more important to save before this whole encounter to get the piece you want.

When you win the battle, he will express interest in helping you out, and you'll receive the Gilgamesh magicite, which teaches a new spell, "Valor," at a 5x rate, as well as Quick at 1x. At level up, the wearer will receive a +2 bonus to Strength. Gilgamesh can also be summoned to attack with either the Excalibur, Masamune, Excalipoor, or Enkidu.

Diabolos

The last of the four new espers, Diabolos, can be acquired once you've defeated all eight dragons. Then, you have access to the new dungeon, the Dragon's Den, where Diabolos can be found. The Dragon's Den is a large new dungeon, and while it's far too large to discuss here, the bottom line is that you must defeat a very tough boss to unlock a path to collect him.

Diabolos teaches Graviga at a faster rate than Midgardsormr, and is the only esper to teach Gravija. Please refer to the Dragon's Den guide for more information.