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Final Fantasy VI Walkthrough

Written by  Djibriel
Contributor

1.38: Rampage of the Millennium

First Cave
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Basement 1
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Enemies: Outcast, Provoker, Zombie Dragon, Antares, Lich, Ninja, Kefka

Treasures: DirkAssassin's Dagger, Elixir, RelicGenji Glove, RelicHeiji's Jitte, Hi-Ether x3, Magicite Shard x3, KnifeKazekiri, Tent, SwordUltima Weapon, X-Potion

The Empire abducted several Espers about twenty years ago, and kept an Imperial Base around to guard the Sealed Gate. The Espers sealed it from the inside, so there's no way for the Empire to actually get in. But you have to try for the sake of the Returners. So now it's your mission to sneak through this Imperial Observation Post and pass through the cave to reach the Sealed Gate and... Yeah, do what exactly? Terra seems like the most likely way of getting contact. Let's see what we can do when we get there.

Once again, I want to stress how nice your life will be if you collect four sets of ArmorGaia Gear, which you can obtain via rare Steal from Briareus on the grassland of the continent East of the Veldt. Thank yourself for your patience! Listen up, friends: Relics are important in the first few parts of this dungeon. One of the enemies can cast OFire, OFira and OFiraga (!) so RelicReflect Rings are very handy, especially since OFiraga is really powerful and could kill you. RelicPeace Rings/RelicRibbons are great to equip against this very same enemy's Confuse-setting Special.

Time to choose a new four-headed party out of your eight-headed available party! Mog is the most powerful party member at this point; those five extra levels don't hurt his cause, and his Water Harmony Dance cleans house like nothing before in the next dungeon. El Niño equals death to the most common and most dangerous enemy. A much surer way of making fatal hits is giving RelicDragoon Boots to Mog and equipping a LanceTrident. Sabin is another great choice; go for either a RelicGenji Glove and two ClawKaiser Knuckles or RelicEarring and Aura Cannon spamming. Edgar's ToolsChainsaw with a RelicGigas Glove is another great asset to your team. Terra is a mandatory character, so there's little to choose there (although she is very weak at this point, so be warned). Cyan, KnifeKazekiri or not, is simply strategically unfit for the next dungeon. Gau is great if he knows Anguiform or Chimera Rages, but not quite as good as the other characters. Setzer's Slot is too unreliable at this moment, and he would have to pull something like Dive Bomb or Sun Flare out of his... nose.... in order to finish off Outcasts, so he's a bad choice. Locke, finally, is simply too weak without heavy Relic-boosting.

In Terra's case, I'd especially advise you to allow her to have some private moments with EsperShiva, as that's the fastest route to a powerful spell that isn't OBio or OFira (as both are useless in the upcoming dungeon).

If you have ArmorGaia Gear, equip it. If you have four sets of it, I suggest you swap Edgar out of the party - he can't equip it - and replace him with Gau (or one of the others; it really doesn't matter that much as long as it isn't Cyan, as he can't equip it either).

Terra, in the meantime, isn't a happy camper. She needs some support, as when she enters the Imperial Camp by herself she'll go: "...I know I can do this, but still... I really don't want to go there all alone..." and will refuse to continue.

The first three rooms are partly filled with monsters you won't find in the rest of the dungeon: Provoker, Antares, and Lich.

Provokers are nasty upgrades of your average Angel Whisper. They absorb Fire-elemental attacks, and have a one-third chance of countering any attack that damages them with Imp Song. Sadly, EsperSiren stands helpless against them, so you'll just have to try to kill them in one hit. Aura Cannon, ToolsChainsaw, OBlizzara, double ClawKaiser Knuckles, all works great.

Antares are small scorpion-like creatures with no special power. They can put you to sleep with !Dreamstinger, and have a slight chance of countering attacks with a Magnitude 8 spell, though they lack the MP to do so. Way to go there, champ. Strong multi-target attacks are particularly helpful here, like ToolsFlash, Chocobo Stampede, Magnitude 8, Sandstorm, you name it.

Liches are the worst, man. They can start the battle with !Insanitouch. Confused characters are never a good idea; with a little luck you can snap them out of it before bad things happen, but chances always exist you'll have to swallow a Rising Phoenix or something before you do. To top this madness, they can cast OFira with considerable power and can even cast OFiraga. Their OFiraga attacks taste like burning. You'll want to avoid that. You can't shut them up with EsperSiren or Silence. If you have Edgar, ToolsNoiseblaster can confuse them to buy you enough time to kill them. Charge for Lich immediately. You won't meet a lot of them, so there's no shame in using a Phoenix Down or ORaise spell if you run into one, although a single-target OBlizzara spell or something might be more cost-efficient.

If your level is really low, make sure you have four RelicReflect Rings, and keep them on your characters at all times. This should prevent Lich's spells from hurting you. Like I said before, RelicPeace Rings and RelicRibbons protect nicely against !Insanitouch.

Every step you take after those three rooms consist out of only two enemies: Zombie Dragon and Outcast. Zombie Dragons are bigger, so you'd assume they're more dangerous. Such folly. RelicReflect Rings are useless once you get into Zombie Dragon territory, and status-prevention Relics can be removed as well as Outcast's !Glare just sets Darkness and Zombie Dragon's !Bone attack, while setting the dangerous Zombie status, is so rare and used so late in the encounter you shouldn't even see it.

Zombie Dragons just attack physically, unless you wait a really, really long time, until they have a slight chance of turning a character into a Zombie with !Bone. Zombie Dragons are the only enemies in this blasted cave that don't absorb Fire, so if somebody knows or learns OFira here (Terra learns it naturally at level 22), use it to great effect. Otherwise, you know how to handle monsters now. Gau can flush Zombie Dragons nicely with Mu's Snare.

Outcasts are entirely different. Their Lifeshaver move is extremely strong. It's an Earth-elemental attack that functions entirely like ODrain; drains HP, can't drain more than the amount of damage the caster has lost. Since it's such a strong attack at this point, the Outcast will most likely recover all of the HP it had lost. If both his lack of HP and the targets possession of it allows, Liveshaver can do up to 750 damage; unless you are equipped with ArmorGaia Gear, in which case you don't need to worry as you'll absorb the attack and the Outcast will damage itself. Nice! If you're equipped with ArmorGaia Gear, there's no need to worry about specific tactics, and you can just pound away. But without, the highest priority when facing Outcast is this: take them out in one shot. This way, they have no chance of casting Liveshaver (You cannot Silence the jerks). If you brought Locke with you, definitely try to Steal four RelicAmulets here; they are a common steal, so the task requires little work.

You can one-hit KO them in a multitude of ways so long as you set up properly. RelicEarring/Aura Cannon is a good method, while RelicGenji Glove/double ClawKaiser Knuckles is a nice alternative. Jump/LanceTrident works well on Edgar or Mog, although the latter might enjoy Dancing the Water Harmony better; El Niño not only kills Outcast, it sends them flying in the bloody Clouds of Magellan. OAqua Breath, sadly, probably isn't strong enough at this point, even with a RelicHero's Ring or RelicEarring behind it.

If you did bring ArmorGaia Gear for all your boys and girls, Gau can make Briareus's Cyclonic work to great effect as every opponent is vulnerable to one-hit KO attacks. Sure, Wyvern works just as well, but since we got the ArmorGaia Gear from Briareus enemies in the first place, let this be a tribute.

When you arrive at the Imperial Base, there are no soldiers around. That's mighty suspicious, and can only lead to bad things: Either the soldiers are somewhere else, preparing for a major attack, or the Empire has decided they will let you go the Sealed Gate, which means they've got some nasty trick up their sleeves. Still, we shall press on.

Boy, is it hot in this cave. The Cave to the Sealed Gate is a volcanic area, and the monsters have adapted to it. At least there's one thing cool here: There's already a chest in the very first room! It contains the DirkAssassin's Dagger, a brilliant semi-DirkThief's Knife that randomly kills in one hit. The comparison with the DirkThief's Knife comes from the fact it's both Locke/Shadow only and gives stat boosts, making it a nice option even if you don't plan on using Attack. The DirkAssassin's Dagger revives the Undead though, all the time, so I wouldn't suggest equipping it here (even if you weren't going to use it for attacking, DirkThief's Knife's special abilities are better).

The next room has another chest, this one containing a KnifeKazekiri blade. If you hadn't stolen one from Number 128, this is the only one you'll find in the game barring end-game GBA-only Soul Shrine adventures. It has a 50% chance of nulling the special effects of the physical strike and casting Wind Slash instead. It's pretty much the most interesting weapon Cyan will ever get his hands on, so cherish it (for all the Cyan-slandering I participate in).

ScreenshotThe next room is a 'puzzle': Every 1.5 seconds or so, the pathway changes from one state to the other. Explaining how to get across would be folly, as any attempt to explain would likely just sound confusing, and it's not that hard in the first place. However, the screenshot to the right does show with white squares each of the safe tiles on which to stand during motion. The chest to the right contains an X-Potion, and the chest to the bottom contains the RelicHeiji's Jitte Relic, a Relic that changes Setzer's ability from Slot into Gil Toss.

If you, like I, think throwing coins is a rather silly way of doing damage, you may be interested to hear that it is not without precedence. Coin throwing was previously featured in Final Fantasy V as a grossly overpowered attack and actually has its roots in Japanese folklore. The Heiji's Jitte, you see. Zenigata Heiji was a kind of 'Sherlock Holmes' during the samurai era who stopped/killed his foes by throwing a coin at them. A Jitte is a specialized weapon specifically designed to catch an opponent's blade, used in the day by the law enforcement to disarm criminals. What Heiji's Jitte has to do with Heiji's coin throwing antics remains a mystery.

Gil Toss, while more consistent, is inferior to Slot, especially when Setzer is equipped with RelicEarring, as he should be. The ToolsFlash Tool is a good indicator of the total amount of damage inflicted by RelicHeiji's Jitte actually splits the damage between its targets, so the more targets, the weaker it turns out. Besides that, there's no way of boosting it other than level, AND it costs you money every time you use it by an [amount of gold used] = [Level * 30] ratio. There are times - in the future - where it'll be worth it to equip the Relic, but not now.

The room's exit is to the bottom-right of the screen. Here, you come across a choice: Right or dead ahead. Going to the right will get you to a chest with a Hi-Ether in it. Grab it, hike back, and continue. You'll want to go up the diagonal, nature-crafted stairway, at the end of which you will find a bridge with a switch next to it. If you press the switch, the bridge will collapse under you and you'll fall down, but no HP damage will be done, and you 'hear a distant sound'. Going to the left and up will get you to a chest with... a RelicGenji Glove! A very useful Relic indeed. If you have the equipment and the characters, you can add a double LanceTrident Attacker to the party this way, eliminating the Jumping time. Mmm. Go back and continue this time.

You'll see a plateau with two switches, and a bridge with a switch next to it. Go over to the two switches on the plateau. The left switch opens the door to a Save Point and a chest with a Tent in it; the right switch triggers a battle with a Ninja and accomplishes nothing otherwise (you won't ever make this Ninja appear on the Veldt). If you decide to fight the Ninja, make sure you heal yourself, as he's bound to get in at least one Thrown Scroll. The best way of dealing with the Ninja is by utilizing one-hit KO attacks; the ODeath spell should do the trick, otherwise the Rhodox Rage or Twilight Requiem will offer a good chance at success. If you don't want to rely on luck, he's weak to Lightning, so OThundara and Gau's Aspiran's Gigavolt work well. He doesn't have that many HP, and when he dies, he will talk about hidden treasures in the 'plaza beneath the grand stairway'. Few people seem to know actually what he's talking about there, but luckily yours truly is among them.

The switch on the bridge (doesn't that sound like a Dr. Seuss novel to you?) is mandatory this time, as it will create a large stairway. Egads, a grand stairway I might add.

Behold, the plaza! This already is the plaza the Ninja risked his life for, littered with treasure. This is where they are:
  • SkeanInvisibility Scroll: One step down and one step to the left from the lowest stairway tile.
  • Remedy: Six steps down from the SkeanInvisibility Scroll.
  • 293 Gil: Three steps up from the treasure chest visible here.
  • SkeanWater Scroll: Three steps down and three steps to the right from the lowest stairway tile.


The chest here contains an Hi-Ether. Let's move on. When you enter the little cave, you'll have to find your way up through a hidden tunnel, but a monkey with half a brain could do that, so I won't be helping you. When you emerge, you can open the chest for an Elixir.

This next part is kind of frustrating to 'pin down'. There are two stepping tiles in front of you. The first one accomplishes about as much as I know about car mechanics: Absolutely nothing. It creates a stairway to a featureless little six-tile area. The second stepping tile breaks apart a bridge leading to a chest; you can walk around it or step on it anyway and go another route I'll point out in a bit. The chest in question contains not an item or a monster, but a switch. Switch-in-a-box. Heh. Flick it, or don't, it doesn't do anything remotely interesting.

Going down will get you to another stepping tile. This one is more of a friend to you; it opens a door to a small cave with four chests: Two Magicite Shards, an Hi-Ether, and the SwordUltima Weapon.

The SwordUltima Weapon is a nifty sword that's more special than useful. A scholar in Albrook mentioned it, remember? It was created during the War of the Magi, along with a monster with the same name. Meeting the sword was the better choice, I think. The SwordUltima Weapon will do rather weak, barrier-piercing damage at this point of the game when the wielder is at his maximum HP; its damage is partially based on the max HP/current HP ratio where the SwordUltima Weapon will do more damage when the wielder at full health and almost no damage when the wielder only has a few HP left. The SwordUltima Weapon gains strength with the wielder's level, and can achieve three lengths, depending on the damage output (it changes from short to medium beyond 500 HP damage, and from medium to long at 1000). I wouldn't equip it at this point. A few points of rumor and interest:
  • The SwordUltima Weapon is rather famous for starring in the horrid legend claiming you can Throw this weapon for an instant kill against the final boss. You can't throw the SwordUltima Weapon. Case closed.
  • When you combine the SwordUltima Weapon with Mug, it will lose its special damage formula and it'll become a normal sword with an Attack of 255, which is rather nice. Most people will argue that this is a bug, though.
  • An urban myth for... ahem... increasing the size of your SwordUltima Weapon includes wearing HelmetGreen Berets or HelmetRed Caps and equipping RelicMuscle Belts, all to increase maximum HP and boost that blue thing. It doesn't work, as it's the ratio that's important, not max HP.
  • Isn't it wicked? It's like a lightsaber.


Let's walk over to the new pathway. You'll encounter a switch you have to press to raise land to the right of you so you can cross it. Here's a switch as well; if you stepped on the bad stepping tile earlier, you can press it so you can walk over to the chest.

The switch, by the way, would block your path if you had stood on the two useless/bad stepping tiles earlier, and only as long as you didn't fight a random encounter. I really don't know why programmers even bother with things like this. Moving on will get you a chest with a Magicite Shard. From here on, it's a straight path to the Sealed Gate. As soon as Terra wants to call out to the Espers: Oh noes! Kefka has followed you here, hoping you'd be able to open the Sealed Gate and deliver more Espers to the Empire. Folly! How could you have been so foolish? Time to put the hurt on Kefka!

Like in the Imperial Camp, you fight a human Kefka. I won't bother really listing what he does and how you should handle it, as the fight ends as soon as you do anything to Kefka, be it helpful to him or damaging. For trivia purposes, I'll list his moves, though: OPoison, OFira, ODischord, Attack, ORasp, OSlow, and Special. He doesn't actually have a Special attack though, as he's a character, so instead, the attack name pop-up will display nothing, Kefka will take one step forward and raise his arms (like Gau performing a Special), and without any attack animation, the attack will miss. Oh yes, and don't use Magicite Shards, as those cancel on characters, including opponent characters.

During the battle with Kefka, Terra manages somehow to make contact with the Espers behind the Gate. The door opens, but something is wrong; rather than asking what you want, several Espers bolt out the door, flying off, sending shockwaves of power through your body. When they are gone, the door closes behind you and is blocked with an eerily skull-like barricade of rocks. Terra urges you to get out when she awakens, and maybe it's wise to follow her advice.

The cave has a new exit; take it for a shortcut. Make sure that you've collected all the treasures you wanted, as once you get out of the cave and board the Blackjack, there's no going back in unless you go out of your way to do so (ominous foreshadowing).

Once you pass through the Imperial Base and find your ally at the other end, he'll tell you that the Espers have flown to Vector. You were planning to have them attack it anyway, but it's doubtful if this sort of haste is for the best...

The identity of the ill-news bringer depends on the composition of your party, but starting from the most likely one, the game works down the list from Locke to Cyan, Edgar, Sabin, and finally Setzer. Actually, it's quite impossible for you to encounter Setzer here, as you'll at the very worst have a Terra/Locke/Cyan/Edgar party, in which case it's still Sabin who delivers the news. Ah, goddess of unnecessary coding!

Immediately afterwards, you find yourself flying to Vector. But you start feeling some vibration, and it isn't the good vibration Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch or the Beach Boys used to sing about. No sih, not at all. You'll find yourself near Maranda. Absolutely nothing has changed in this town, so you might as well go find the hidden Chocobo Stable and hike to Vector. The Stable is hidden in the narrow part in the forest to the East of Maranda.

As you can see when you arrive, Vector is in ruins. Seems the Espers smacked it around with a club called 'Destruction'. The Returners are, without any apparent reason, exposing themselves to the Empire now that it seems weakened. I'm sure they won't call the soldiers on you, sillies. Even Banon and Arvis are here. Banon will declare you mad for even bringing up the option of talking with Espers; clearly, they are barbarians whose bones are filled with violence and manslaughter. Looking at the path of destruction without discretion in their wake, it's hard to argue otherwise, however validated their anger may be. Entering the Imperial Magitek Research Facility will accomplish exactly nothing, as you can't. Entering the Imperial Palace, however, will get you an Imperial escort who will take you to the Emperor himself.

Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy VI
Version 6
©1997–2025 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)

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