Final Fantasy VI Walkthrough

The Dirt Drgn is fairly unique; he's the only elemental dragon that doesn't absorb his own element (instead, he uses the Float status to circumvent almost all Earth-elemental damage). Why they chose to do this is beyond me, as even with Quake healing, Dirt Drgn wouldn't have been that crazy of a challenge. We may well never know. Every 20 seconds, the Dirt Drgn will use his 50 Gs attack, a Dirt Drgn-only move that removes the Float status on all targets. Irremovable Float, like the one given by the Cherub Down and Float-inducing Rages, will not be removed. Given the fact that Earth's G is, as you might expect, 1 G, 50 G is plain crazy; you'd effectively become 50 times as heavy as you normally are. Shadow would suddenly become 7250 lbs, for instance. But enough with the first-grade science. He has a one-third chance of countering any damage done to him with the dreaded !Honed Tusk attack, which really is quite strong. Any other attack he uses will be either Battle or ground-based. Quake always misses Dirt Drgn himself, and the Magnitude8 and Slide attacks should either miss or heal you if you've been smart up until now.

Start the battle off by throwing up your barriers. Golem and Fenrir are particularly useful, as the only real threat in this battle should be Dirt Drgn's !Honed Tusk and Battle attacks. Strago's Big Guard should also help in that department. Haste 2 is great as always, and Kirin doesn't hurt either. Cast a combination of Sleep and Slow on the Dirt Drgn as well: remember that Sleep can also be set with Strago's Sour Mouth attack, which also can set Poison on the Dirt Drgn. Now that you've been bulked up plenty, (and the Dirt Drgn is vulnerable in his extended slumber) it's time to start the magical offensive.

If you want to keep Dirt Drgn sleeping, keep Gau busy with Magic spells. Back Row Gau with 255 Defense and a Float-inducing Rage is invulnerable, but it may come at the cost of fallen party members. If that sounds a bit cheap to you, and since all characters are either draped in Gaia Gear or protected by Cherub Down, I should mention that Rages like Harpiai, Ninja, Hornet, and Luridan really help (especially Harpiai). Strago's Aero packs a proverbial wallop, and Shadow's Water Skeans are pretty strong. If you don't care for the Sleep status, Thrown Blossoms are extremely painful to Dirt Drgn. Sabin's Bum Rush still gets the job done as always, and it is superior to Air Blade even though it doesn't exploit a specific weakness. Mog's Water Rondo is a superior alternative to Jump attacks if you're trying to maintain a snoozing Dirt Drgn. His Wind Song is also an option; Wind Slash is weaker than El Nino, but you might prefer Wind Song's 6/16 Sun Bath to Water Rondo's 6/16 Plasma attack. All other characters should just stick to Magic spells. Umaro should be kept far away from this battle, as usual. His presence makes the Sleep status strategy rather impossible. Expand Full Strategy