Final Fantasy VI Walkthrough

There are a few oddities about this thing. First off, it's supposed to be a scary Ymir upgrade, a task at which it fails. Second, notice how the shell is Floating but the head isn't? The tale of a creature whose head was too heavy to carry hasn't been new since Catoblepas, but I've never seen it applied to a snail before. Angler Whelk also made an appearance in the 1996 Square game 'Bahamut Lagoon', which never hit the shores of America. Same name, same sprite, has a tendency to appear when you destroy buildings with Thunder-techs.

Also, the game designers made a little mistake we're going to exploit here; we were never supposed to obtain more than one Dragon Claws from this fight, but we're getting two. Just watch me.

The AI script of the head is simple. If you damage the head two times, it'll retract into its shell, disappearing from the battlefield. It'll remain there for 20 seconds, at which point is comes out again. It'll use Battle, !Petriblast, El Nino, and Megavolt without causing itself any difficulties, so be ready for any of them at all times. The shell attacks by itself, and is no longer just an auto-counter dummy. Battle, Megavolt, and 1000 Needles may appear at all times, of which 1000 Needles should be watched for especially. When the head has retracted, it'll stop using its normal attacks and switch over to Magnitude 8. Whenever the shell is damaged, it has a 33% chance at retorting with Gigavolt.

The strategy we're aiming for is simple. If one of the parts dies, the other one dies as well, but will NOT give us the item. Thus, if we want both sets of Dragon Claws (and we certainly do, as Angler Whelk is the only source for Dragon Claws in the game), we have to kill them both at the same time.

First, our defenses! If you didn't cast Float earlier, do so at the start of the battle. Zona Seeker helps against Megavolt, Gigavolt, and El Nino. Golem and/or Fenrir protect against Battle and !Petriblast. You could have Celes on Runic stand-by for Megavolt and Gigavolt, but it's not worth it. Now, let's kill this snail.

Since both targets are susceptible to Instant Death attacks and Petrify, the two best strategies are using Banish and using Catoblepas's Demon Eye. However, we don't want to take any chances, do we? First, if you have the Vanish spell, cast it on the shell to ensure that Banish/Demon Eye will hit it. Remember, this is not a bug exploit; the shell is susceptible to instant death attacks, and setting Clear just makes sure the intended move hits, exactly what it was always supposed to do. Sadly, we can't apply Sleep or Stop to make sure Banish/Demon Eye works on the head, because both attacks check for the target's Stamina (in which case those steps are ignored). So, we'll just have to take our chances here. Since Demon Eye is more accurate than Banish, it takes precedence. If the head is missed, I suggest you reload the game. Expand Full Strategy

Dullahan is a stud. Although he looks like he'd rather impale you with that lance of his any day, he's almost exclusively a spell caster with inherent Haste. Both his spells and Magic Power are relatively strong, so expect a challenge here. The boss' name comes from an ancient spirit from Irish mythology: a headless horseman who only travels to collect somebody's life. His carriage is made of bone, his horses have flaming eyes, and he will stop at nothing...

Dullahan always starts the battle off with Lv. ? Holy. This is a strong Holy-elemental attack, in terms of power similar to level 3 spells. Its drawback is that it will only hit targets whose level is divisible by the last digit of your GP. This is why I told you to make sure that it never hits; it will leave quite a mark if it does.

Under normal circumstances, he'll just focus on his three main spells: namely, Blizzara, Blizzaga, and Holy. When he detects any characters in your party with the Reflect status, he'll use Reflect ??? on your entire party. It will display "Holy cast if level is divisible by ?.", setting Dark, Mute, and Slow on every character with the Reflect status. If he dives beneath 10240 HP, he'll use Cura instantly. If he passes through four normal turns, he'll regain the ability to cast Reflect ??? and/or Cura if the situation calls for it. Finally, there is a 33% chance that it will counter your attack with Battle. Oh, my.

After damaging him eight times, he'll get four turns where he will use some of his nastier spells. Blizzara and Lv. ? Holy can make another appearance, but so can !Morning Star, Absolute Zero, and Northern Cross. You can't Runic your way out of these new spells, which makes them harder to stop. Northern Cross, while being vulnerable to Runic, is the most dangerous of the five.

Northern Cross sets the Freeze status ailment, which you might have already encountered in the fight against Naude, who could set it with Freezing Dust. Northern Cross is multi-target, but uses an 'interesting' way to determine whether it hits or not. After the game checks if Northern Cross is blocked (after looking for Clear, Magic Block, the usual), it randomly misses from 0 to 4 characters. This ensures that even when all characters are normally hit by the move, you'll almost never see a party entirely frozen. That is good, as it's basically mega-Stop and there is no way to protect against it at all. Remember that the fastest way to dispel the Freeze status is to hit the party with a Fire-elemental attack; the Fire spell is obviously the best one.

There are two strategies you can employ. I'll list them both, as both should be perfectly fail-safe if you know what you're doing. Here they are:

Strategy #1: Hit Points

This is the strategy where we use violence to end Dullahan. First off, let's set up our available defenses. Zona Seeker is nice should Absolute Zero make an appearance, as is Golem or Fenrir for !Morning Star and Battle counters. Have Celes use Runic, continuously. If she isn't wearing Hermes Sandals, make sure you cast the Haste spell on her. Now, let's get to the violence! Your main damage dealers here are Sabin and Edgar. Sabin should be in the Front Row with two Burning Fists. If Celes isn't busy with absorbing one of Dullahan's spells, sneak a Berserk spell on Sabin for increased damage. If Edgar is equipped with the Dragon Horn, have him Jump. If not, stick to Tools; you can see what I want to do with him. Setzer should just stand by and use Hi-Potions on hurting characters. Since Celes should pretty much absorb all of Dullahan's attacks, you should be safe in that regard. In the end, you should prevail.

Strategy #2: Magic Points

Dullahan dies if you rasp away his MP. Thus, the entire offensive arsenal required for this strategy is Rasp. The advantage of the strategy is that if you have two to four Rasp casters, you'll find that the battle is over far more quickly. Its downside is that it does require two to four Rasp casters, and that, since Rasp is vulnerable to Runic, you can't protect yourself against Dullahan's attacks and will, consequently, have to regularly heal.

On a normally leveled party, I find both strategies equally satisfying; it's your pick, really. Expand Full Strategy