Final Fantasy VI Walkthrough
Written by Djibriel
Contributor
2.29: Team Thamasa
Lore: 
Aero, 1000 Needles, Mighty Guard, Dischord, Bad Breath, Transfusion, Rippler
Party: Relm, Optional: Terra, Cyan, Shadow, Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Setzer, Mog, Gau, Umaro
First, I want to look at the Control command. There's a respectable chance that you've already gained access to it. If you obtained a
Fake Mustache from mugging Still Life or already dove into the Zone Eater dungeon that I'll discuss quite a bit later in this walkthrough, you will have this command at your disposal. Control allows Relm to control a monster. What does this mean? The monster will stop its normal AI script. It'll still use counters, though. Relm's hold over an opponent's psyche doesn't end until the opponent in question is attacked physically or either the Controller or the Controllee is inflicted with one of the following status ailments: Sleep, Confused, Berserk, Death, Petrify, Zombie, Freeze, or Stop. The chance of Control working is exactly the same as Sketch working, and is based on both the Controller's level and the level of the opponent you're trying to Control. The 
Hypno Crown Helmet raises Relm's Control success percentage, while the Beret raised the Sketch success rate.When Relm is controlling a monster and it's her turn to act, you'll be offered the choice between the four (or fewer) Control commands available to the monster she's controlling instead of her usual options. The Control commands are also the ones a monster randomly uses when Muddled, and most of the time there's some reason to the attacks found there. Regardless, Control can be a strategic choice so long as you know what monsters are worth controlling. Most of the time, the 'monster attacks until I say so' is the sweetest part of the deal, but sometimes the Control commands really include some sweet attacks like Cold Dust, Flare Star, Death-setting Specials, and the like. Control is great to get a particularly powerful enemy out of the way (Brachiosaur comes to mind), or to have an unlimited amount of Steal attempts without you having to worry about a thing.
I'd say that for the loss of a Relic slot, a Relm with a good Magic arsenal is better off with a second
Earring than with a Fake Mustache; I'll address the usefulness of the Control ability later on. For now, if you have a Fake Mustache, equip it, as the Control ability helps in getting Lores (although it won't grant access to Lores you couldn't already obtain - it just makes life easier).Two more notes: first, if you used Mog's
Molulu's Charm to raid Kefka's Tower earlier, you should have a Hypno Crown by now. Equip it for increased Control chances. Secondly, the Japanese name of the is "Dancho's Mustache"; Dancho was the name of the Impresario of the Opera House. Why a taped-on mustache allows you to control monsters is beyond logic. Now, it's time to reap the benefits of this strange new world: new monsters, new attacks, new Lores. I'll discuss them step by step.
If Strago hasn't yet learned
1000 Needles, take him to the desert just south of Maranda, where Cactuar will use it every single turn it attacks. Make sure you are able to take Cactuar out after he uses 1000 Needles, though. With Relm on your side, both Sketch and Control grant access to 1000 Needles itself, which kills the Cactuar.Then, one of the greater Lores you can find:
Aero, the Wind-elemental multi-target level 3 spell-like attack. Find a Vasegiatta near Thamasa; you can't not fight a Vasegiatta in the forests. Sketch gives you a 75% shot at Aero, and you can find it with Control as well. You can even wait for it to use the attack randomly. Marchosias near Kohlingen may also use it randomly, and they too can be forced to use the spell through Control. Aero is slightly more powerful than a level 3 spell in both multi-target and single-target situations. Don't let the Wind element blow you away (heh); very few enemies are actually weak to it, and those that are tend to be weak monsters too. But don't be discouraged; even though teaching Strago the level 3 spells is a good idea for elemental flexibility, Aero should be Strago's main form of attack unless elemental properties declare otherwise (or if you are certain Lv. 4 Flare can connect). This is all worth noting until you can get Strago's strongest Lore, Grand Delta. Until then, Aero is for you.If you missed
White Wind for some reason, you can also find it via Marchosias (uses randomly) and Sprinter (uses randomly).The
Transfusion attack is entirely pointless and about as useful as jamming a pencil up your left eye socket and running around in a classic 'Kiss the Cook' apron while religiously chanting Madonna's single "Holiday." In other words, you'll never actually use it, but it's fitting of Strago's character. Near Kohlingen, you can find Mousse ad infinitum; just wait for them to use Transfusion. You can force their hand with Control, but unless they're alone it shouldn't take long. Don't Sketch them; executing Transfusion will kill Relm. Transfusion fully heals the targets MP, removes all negative status ailments except for Imp and Freeze (I'm counting Berserk as negative for the moment), and restores the same amount of HP as the target currently has (which seems odd) to the target. The downside? It kills the caster and removes him from battle entirely. When Strago casts Transfusion, his role on the battlefield is over. Really, you should be very, very desperate if you are using this attack.Bad Breath can be learned from Malboro in Daryl's Tomb near Kohlingen. It's wise to equip Relics that protect against Zombie while you're in the Tomb. Sketch will get you a 75% shot at Bad Breath, and it's in Malboro's Control menu as well. This enemy will use it pretty often when he's alone as well. If you meet any Borghese opponents down the way, Lv. 5 Death offs them quite effortlessly. Bad Breath sets a lot of status ailments: Dark, Poison, Imp, Mute, Confuse, and Sleep, to be precise. It's ideal if you want to cripple an opponent but don't quite know what he's protected against; with Bad Breath, you're bound to hit him in some form or another. A funny thing about Bad Breath is that while it may set Imp, the sprite of the monster will not change.For
Mighty Guard you'll really want to go with Sketch. If you're really scared of the Sketch bug, make sure that you're either level 16 or level 23 and up with a Beret equipped. Meet a Land Ray in the desert and Sketch it. There is a 75% chance of the painting using Mighty Guard. You can also quickly cast 
Stop on it if the first character coming up knows the spell and isn't capable of using Sketch. If for some reason you really don't want to use Sketch, you can make Gau learn the Land Ray Rage on the Veldt and have Gau cast Mighty Guard through the Land Ray Rage with Strago in the party (in order for this to work, you will need to have met the desert version of the enemy).Mighty Guard is, quite simply, pretty neat. It sets both Safe and Shell on all party members, even if you've been Side Attacked. It's a superior version of the 
Zona Seeker's Wall attack I've been mentioning so often; the multi-target Protect isn't that useful with Fenrir and Golem around, but certainly doesn't hurt you a bit.The last Lore easily obtainable right now is
Rippler. First, make sure your party is covered in the Clear status. Now, fly over to Jidoor and enter the forests to the north. Mess around until you meet up with four Leap Frogs. They have a 33% chance of casting Rippler every third turn, which will happen after landing from their Jump attack. Rippler trades statuses. It takes all of the statuses of the caster and removes them if possible (Relic/equipment-induced statuses will remain) and applies it to the target if possible (immunities may prevent it). In turn, it takes all of the target's statuses and removes them if possible, and sets them on the caster if possible. Ideally, Rippler trades your status ailments for their positive statuses. Sadly, Rippler is prone to all kinds of more or less disturbing bugs; the most obvious one being that it trades far more statuses than it was ever supposed to, giving you the ability to trade Terra's Morph status (Confuse/Rippler) to other characters, as well as Shadow's Dog Block. Warning: A monster taking Dog Block from you and then dying will remove Interceptor from you permanently. Another character stealing Dog Block from that very same enemy or directly taking it from Shadow by means of Confuse/Rippler would also obtain Interceptor permanently. Just make sure you don't lose him forever, you wouldn't want that. Ideally, if you don't mind abusing bugs, you may want to transfer Interceptor to Gogo in the future (he can use the extra protection, and his superior equipment-boosted Magic Power ensures that Interceptor hits extra hard). Rippler as an attack isn't exactly hot stuff. It can copy some positive statuses from a few rare bosses such as Poltrgeist (Image, Float, Haste, Safe), Goddess (Haste, Shell), and Deathgaze (Float, Shell, Safe). Oh yeah, and the Rippler attack is the only way to get rid of Countdown status (not counting completely random attacks such as Wild Bear).So for a quick reference, the Lores you could have obtained so far include:
- Doom
- Mighty Guard
- Lv. 3 Confuse
- Rippler
- Roulette
- Revenge Blast
- Traveler
- Stone
- Aqua Breath
- White Wind
- Dischord
- Self-Destruct
- Aero
- Lv. 5 Death
- Bad Breath
- 1000 Needles
- Lv. 4 Flare
- Transfusion
This section is called 'Team Thamasa', so you might be wondering by now how we're going to bulk up Relm. There are three things that can be done, and they're all equipment-related. One is the
Behemoth Suit: if you don't have two already, make sure you spend a while on the Veldt as there's no doubt you'll run into one or two Behemoth King 2s before long. The Behemoth Suit is also available for Strago, by the way. The second thing we'll be doing for Relm is defeating another elemental dragon for the great item it drops, but we'll get to that in a minute. The final equipment boost that Relm is capable of equipping is her best piece of headgear. +2 to Speed, +4 to Magic Power, 10% extra Magic Block, Defense and Magic Defense statistics superior to every other helmet (except for oddballs Thornlet and Saucer), and 50% damage reduction against Fire-, Lightning-, Ice-, Holy-, Earth-, and Wind-elemental attacks. And, if all that wasn't enough, it doubles the GP gained from random battles. If that doesn't sound like a sweet deal, there is no pleasing you.How to get it? It's Colosseum material. The opponent is the Weredragon, the giant lizard whose only dangerous attack (the
Death spell) can be easily circumvented with a Reflect Ring. The trick here is to find the item the Weredragon is willing to fight for: an 
Impartisan. There are two ways to find them, and both are nasty at this point. One is finding a Greater Mantis (your best bet is the forest to the north of Jidoor) and trying to steal one. It's a rare steal, and your best thief is currently Shadow with a double 
Thief's Knife equip, which isn't that great. Chances are very low. Make sure you are all set with the Clear status, as otherwise Greater Mantis's physicals will rip you apart very quickly. You can increase your chances of success a little by abusing the bug that is Vanish/Dischord. Keep the Greater Mantis you're stealing from healed, as you don't want it to die without giving you the Impartisan first. You can go on for eternity without danger of dying, but it will probably take a long time indeed.The other option is the rare, 12.5% chance drop the
Impartisan is for the Tyrannosaur in the Dinosaur forest to the north of the Veldt. Tyrannosaurs are extremely dangerous random encounters that are widely known for the fact they, in tandem, give the most Experience Points of any random encounter in the game. On the second turn, they may use Meteor, which will take about 1500 HP worth of damage from every character. Quickly cripple them with a Sleep spell or the Bad Breath Lore, and kill them as quick as you can with Ice-elemental spells. Don't bring uncontrollable characters, as they will snap the Tyrannosaurs out of their snoozing (sure, Dance won't, but Dance sucks here). If you meet a Brachiosaur, run like a madman. Save often, as Brachiosaur is this game's Warmech. By that, I mean that it presents death unto you, if you catch my drift. I'd consider the Greater Mantis method far more feasable, honestly.If you go to the Colosseum, Equip a
Reflect Ring against its Death spell and a Star Pendant, Fairy Ring, or Ribbon against !Venom Claw. The reflected Death spell may work on Weredragon, but it doesn't really matter, as Weredragon is too weak to warrant special attention.Now, let's go find the ultimate rod of the game (which carries Strago's last name, for the record), the sure-fire drop of the Earth Dragon.
Before you go, make sure you have
Angel Wings Relics for those characters that can't equip Gaia Gear. If you sold some of them, you can still buy more in the Armor Shop in South Figaro.
Caves of Narshe: Final Fantasy VI
Version 6
©1997–2025 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)
All fanfiction and fanart (including original artwork in forum avatars) is property of the original authors. Some graphics property of Square Enix.
Version 6
©1997–2025 Josh Alvies (Rangers51)
All fanfiction and fanart (including original artwork in forum avatars) is property of the original authors. Some graphics property of Square Enix.