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Final Fantasy VI Walkthrough

Written by  Djibriel
Contributor

1.47: The Airborne Approach

Airship
3/4
2
1
1/4
1
1

Enemies: Sky Armor, Spit Fire, Chupon, Ultros 4, Air Force, Laser Gun, MissileBay, Speck

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 Spit Fire and a single Sky Armor, or a Spit Fire 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 !Backlash, but if one is alone, it might even consider firing a Missile or two. Spit Fires 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 Diffuser, 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 OL. 5 Doom, he should use it to take out any Spit Fire monsters right away (OL. 4 Flare affects Sky Armor, but that's probably far too expensive). EsperSiren just stops these guys from doing any damage whatsoever (not counting Spit Fire's Specials), so make sure one of your characters has it. Summon EsperSiren, listen to her Hope Song, loot the buggers if you have Locke with you (rare Elixirs on Spit Fire, and the common Tincture isn't half bad either), and kill them all. Wind Song (home Dance!), Cyan's KnifeTempest blades and Gau's Marshal Rage all offer a chance at Wind Slash, which kills all enemies (on both sides of you).

It's worthy of note that the Spit Fire, 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!"
Chupon
Chupon
Boss Monster
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: DirkDirk
None
Status Immunities
Elemental Immunities
poisonimppetrifydeathconfusion
None
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
fire
icewater
Lores
Command Immunities
None
Control, Scan
  

Ultros 4
Ultros 4
Boss Monster
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
poisonimppetrifydeathberserkconfusionsleepstop
None
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
water
firepoison
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, !OctopusInk, and Tentacle, so we're back to basics. If he reaches 12800 HP - that's about 5000 damage, something a OBio spell coming from a normally leveled RelicEarrings-boosted Terra can do in ONE hit - he will complain and call his buddy, Chupon. "Ultros: I lose AGAIN! Well, today I've brought a pal! Mr. Chupon! Come on down!" From here, he'll keep attacking like he used to, only he'll talk about the monstrosity now.

Chupon is nothing to worry about either. His attacks are unassuming, his stats fairly weak: Attack and Fire Ball are past their prime. When he dies, he'll use a final Sneeze attack on everybody. Gezondheid!

Strategy? Psh. Summoning EsperPhantom at the very start takes care of Attack and !OctopusInk, and you can Berserk or Silence Mr. Chupon as soon as he comes down. You're invulnerable. Not that a normal OCure or OCure 2 spell couldn't prevent any kind of danger, but... on the offensive side, OFire 2 and OBio work very well on Ultros (yes, he suddenly traded his Lightning-weakness for a Poison one), and Chupon can suck down some OIce 2 spells. It's just acceleration material though, as this is a very easy battle. Expand Full Strategy
  

Chupon sneezed you off the ship! And if he didn't, you probably tripped after completing that obscene victory dance of OVanish/OCondemned. 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
Laser Gun
Boss Monster
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
darknesspoisonimppetrifydeathsilenceberserkconfusionsleep
None
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
None
lightningwater
Lores
Command Immunities
None
None
  

MissileBay
MissileBay
Boss Monster
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: ToolsDebilitator
None
Status Immunities
Elemental Immunities
darknesspoisonimppetrifydeathsilenceberserkconfusionsleep
None
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
None
lightningwater
Lores
Command Immunities
None
None
  

Speck
Speck
Boss Monster
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: RelicAmulet
None
Status Immunities
Elemental Immunities
darknesspoisonimppetrifydeathsilenceberserkconfusionsleep
None
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
None
lightningwater
Lores
Command Immunities
None
Control
  

Air Force
Air Force
Boss Monster
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: RelicCzarina Ring
Status Immunities
Elemental Immunities
darknesspoisonimppetrifydeathsilenceberserkconfusionsleepslowstop
None
Elemental Absorb
Elemental Weakness
None
lightningwater
Lores
Command Immunities
None
Control
 
Strategy
 
The parts to this battle: Air Force, Laser Gun (the part to the right of Air Force), and MissileBay (the dark red part below Air Force). In the SNES game, the MissileBay was light grey like the Laser Gun. Why they decided to change *that* of all things will forever be a mystery.

MissileBay 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 Tek Laser and Atomic Ray. If it hits 1536 HP – after taking 1764 HP damage - it loses the Atomic Ray option, but gains Diffuser, which is slightly weaker than Atomic Ray.

Air Force itself will just use Tek Laser and Diffuser. When Laser Gun dies, a Speck will be released. Speck 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 Speck will leave the battlefield and Air Force will use WaveCannon, 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 WaveCannon, Air Force will launch another Speck and start counting again.

The first thing on your mind is taking out MissileBay. If you have Locke in the party, try to Steal for as long as he's around; MissileBay has a rare ToolsDebilitator you probably don't have yet. EsperZoneseek is a brilliant summon here, as the Shell status can really help you out in this battle, and once MissileBay is gone, you can safely summon EsperKirin 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 RodThunder 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 Speck 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 MissileBay, use your speed-reducing grey magic on Laser Gun and focus all spells on Air Force. No Speck, no WaveCannon, no fuss. Expand Full Strategy
  

You'll get a RelicCzarina Ring for your trouble, which is about as useless as a traveling carnival prize of the same name.

Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy VI
Version 6
©1997–2026 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)

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