Final Fantasy VI Walkthrough

Written by Djibriel

Contributor

1.47: The Airborne Approach

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Airship
3/4	Sky Armor	2
3/4	Spitfire	1
1/4	Sky Armor	1
1/4	Spitfire	1

Enemies: Sky Armor, Spitfire, Typhon, Ultros, Air Force, Laser Gun, Missile Bay, Bit

Uh-oh!
It's the Imperial air force!
They've got us surrounded!
We're going to have to engage them!

So it seems you still haven't gone through every last one of the Imperial soldiers just yet. Lovely. You'll have to fight four battles in succession now. Each battle can either consist of a single Spitfire and a single Sky Armor, or a Spitfire and two Sky Armors. It's always a forced pincer, but that's okay, as they have little damaging physical attacks to take advantage of it with. In between, you have a bit of time to use Items and whatnot. Then, you'll notice how "There's something strange up ahead! It's coming this way!" You have to fight two additional battles against the IAF like this. After the third, Ultros hops off that, well, whatever it is that he approaches you on. He just has an unshakeable talent for making one want to tear him a new one. Sky Armors are the weaker of the two. Normally, they simply use Magitek Laser or !Reverse Thruster, but if one is alone, it might even consider firing a Missile or two. Spitfires are the scourge of the low-level player. Every turn, he has a 33% chance of using Absolute 0, a multi-target Ice-elemental attack. If he's alone, he has a 33% of using Diffractive Laser, a multi-target Lightning-elemental attack that is about half as effective as Absolute 0 is, so I don't know what's up with that.

The strategy is very simple. If Strago has access to

Lv. 5 Death, he should use it to take out any Spitfire monsters right away (

Lv. 4 Flare affects Sky Armor, but that's probably far too expensive). Esper

Siren just stops these guys from doing any damage whatsoever (not counting Spitfire's Specials), so make sure one of your characters has it. Summon Esper

Siren, listen to her Lunatic Voice, loot the buggers if you have Locke with you (rare Elixirs on Spitfire, and the common Ether isn't half bad either), and kill them all. Wind Song (home Dance!), Cyan's Knife

Kazekiri blades and Gau's Guard Leader Rage all offer a chance at Wind Slash, which kills all enemies (on both sides of you).

It's worthy of note that the Spitfire, the proud top model of the Imperial Air Force, is not Floating. And we figured those Wyvern were bad. Ugh.

"No, really! This is our last battle! Honest!"

Typhon Bestiary #300	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	26	10000	40000	0	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	13	10	0	100	55	0
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	Common: Dagger			None
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness

	Lores			Command Immunities
	None			Control, Scan

Ultros Bestiary #301	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	26	17000	8000	0	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	10	3	0	20	10	0
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	Common: Dried Meat			None
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness

	Lores			Command Immunities
	None			Control, Scan
	Strategy
	Ultros is an absolute joke this time, with a very simple script and weak stats. He has three attacks: Attack, !Octopus Ink, and Tentacle, so we're back to basics. If he reaches 12800 HP - that's about 5000 damage, something a Bio spell coming from a normally leveled Earring-boosted Terra can do in ONE hit - he will complain and call his buddy, Typhon. "Ultros: Looks like I lose again! But today I brought along a buddy of mine! Mr. Typhon! Come on down!!!" From here, he'll keep attacking like he used to, only he'll talk about the monstrosity now. Typhon is nothing to worry about either. His attacks are unassuming, his stats fairly weak: Attack and Fireball are past their prime. When he dies, he'll use a final Snort attack on everybody. Gezondheid! Strategy? Psh. Summoning Phantom at the very start takes care of Attack and !Octopus Ink, and you can Berserk or Silence Mr. Typhon as soon as he comes down. You're invulnerable. Not that a normal Cure or Cura spell couldn't prevent any kind of danger, but... on the offensive side, Fira and Bio work very well on Ultros (yes, he suddenly traded his Lightning-weakness for a Poison one), and Chupon can suck down some Blizzara spells. It's just acceleration material though, as this is a very easy battle. Expand Full Strategy

Typhon sneezed you off the ship! And if he didn't, you probably tripped after completing that obscene victory dance of

Vanish/

Doom. You fall off the Blackjack, tumbling down towards the Floating Continent. On the way down, you'll encounter the head of the IAF, a big machine thingy called Air Force. I wouldn't know if it's piloted or just a sentient machine or what; all I know is it's attacking me with very powerful spells I'm not too fond of. Let's take a look at him.

Laser Gun Bestiary #303	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	24	3300	335	0	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	12	9	0	130	140	0
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	Common: X-Ether			None
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness
	None
	Lores			Command Immunities
	None			None

Missile Bay Bestiary #304	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	25	3000	7000	0	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	12	8	0	135	150	0
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	Common: Debilitator			None
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness
	None
	Lores			Command Immunities
	None			None

Bit Bestiary #305	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	25	420	285	0	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	12	10	0	230	160	0
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	Common: Amulet			None
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness
	None
	Lores			Command Immunities
	None			Control

Air Force Bestiary #302	Type	Level	HP	MP	Gil	EXP
	None	25	8000	750	0	0
	Strength	Magic Atk.	Evasion	Defense	Mag. Def.	Mag. Evade
	10	12	0	150	120	0
	Stolen Items			Dropped Items
	Common: Elixir			Common: Princess Ring
	Status Immunities			Elemental Immunities
				None
	Elemental Absorb			Elemental Weakness
	None
	Lores			Command Immunities
	None			Control
	Strategy
	The parts to this battle: Air Force, Laser Gun (the part to the right of Air Force), and Missile Bay (the dark red part below Air Force). In the SNES game, the Missile Bay was light grey like the Laser Gun. Why they decided to change that of all things will forever be a mystery. Missile Bay fires off Missile attacks. Nothing ground-shaking there. If it gets weak and reaches 1536 HP - that's after taking 1464 HP damage - it might get a shot at using Launcher. Laser Gun uses Magitek Laser and Atomic Rays. If it hits 1536 HP – after taking 1764 HP damage - it loses the Atomic Rays option, but gains Diffractive Laser, which is slightly weaker than Atomic Rays. Air Force itself will just use Magitek Laser and Diffractive Laser. When Laser Gun dies, a Bit will be released. Bit is an opponent that takes no turns; the only thing it does is float about on constant Runic stand-by, absorbing all your Magic spells. At this point, Air Force will try to self-apply Haste status (and fail, as he's immune to Slow) and start counting down; at this point, the Bit will leave the battlefield and Air Force will use Wave Cannon, a very strong multi-target Lightning-elemental attack. By this point, you should be fully healed though, so you won't die from it if all is well. After Wave Cannon, Air Force will launch another Bit and start counting again. The first thing on your mind is taking out Missile Bay. If you have Locke in the party, try to Steal for as long as he's around; Missile Bay has a rare Debilitator you probably don't have yet. Zona Seeker is a brilliant summon here, as the Shell status can really help you out in this battle, and once Missile Bay is gone, you can safely summon Kirin to override all Sap effects with the positive Regen blessings. Heal regularly, keep your defenses up, and you'll defeat Air Force in no time at all. If you're really having trouble, you can break Thunder Rods. Something to remember if you're playing the game blindfolded. Or just blind. An alternate strategy if you picked three characters that all heavily rely on Magic (Locke, Relm, Celes, for example) is the following. Since you want to prevent Bit from showing up above all else, don't kill Laser Gun. Instead, you can stop his attacks for long periods of time if you combine the Slow and Stop status ailments on it. Kill off Missile Bay, use your speed-reducing grey magic on Laser Gun and focus all spells on Air Force. No Bit, no Wave Cannon, no fuss. Expand Full Strategy

You'll get a Relic

Princess Ring for your trouble, which is about as useless as a traveling carnival prize of the same name.

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Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy VI
Version 6
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