FFVIA LLNSNI Part XV: Dullahan

Third video today and the last one for a while.

Setzer joins the party and with two Viper Darts he can instakill the enemy that gives Celes her Minerva Bustier in the Coliseum. Obligatory for somewhat improving your chances to survive Absolute Zero and the other unblockable ice-elemental magic attack here.

Dullahan is even harder than Atma Weapon was, because we don't intend to run him out of his MP (which would be fairly easy actually). In this recording however, you can compare the two drastically different parts, the first being surprisingly cloudless and not promising any threat and the latter being outright disastrous.

It all depends on Dullahan's attack pattern which is very much random. He may attack physically, reflect his spells off you (Reflect Rings on everybody but Celes is a must), use his unblockable moves... and every single turn he has a 1/3 chance of doing absolutely nothing. This is why, even though naturally hasted, he sometimes appears too slow when that isn't the case.

Another terrible side of Dullahan is his physical counter to anything. It's strong and deadly, and he counters even Osmose spells. This is a reason why I have not one but two physical attackers, Sabin doublewielding Burning Fists and Edgar doublewielding Flametongues. If I had an extra character draining his MP with Osmose, there would be even more counterattacking per damage done to the boss.

Celes has been given a Gold Hairpin, and, seeing how Minerva gives her a 1/4 MP boost, she now has enough MP to cast Raise four times before running out of MP. As Celes will be the only one to survive the unblockable attacks (hopefully she's alive when they're executed), she needs the MP very badly.

The first half of the battle is surprisingly safe, with Dullahan not using his strongest attacks against us and Fenrir's evasion effect refusing to fade. The worst starts when Absolute Zero is used for the first time.

And now we have access to the airship and the whole world thanks to it. There should be a lot to do at this point.

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[MasterAsra]

So you CAN kill Dullahan b y draining all of his MP?

[MoogleBoss]

Yes. In fact, if the battle goes on for too long that's how he'll die even if you don't want him to, as Osmose seriously adds to the MP loss from casting all those spells.

In low level games, it's common practice to use Minerva/Runic/Reflect to literally wait out until he runs out of MP, then equip a Soul Sabre and hit him with it once so that he dies. Until you attack him 8 times, he won't use anything besides Holy, Blizzara and Blizzaga. Not fun though.

[ShiningGlaceon]

But can't you also just cast Banish and defeat him in one turn?

[MoogleBoss]

He's immune to instant death, and everything else... well, that, and nobody has learnt Banish yet.

[ShiningGlaceon]

ah I see, well thanks for the insight ^_^, although I must ask how is it that you are able to keep everyone's level to a minimum (I'm not sure if you explained it in a previous video, I would go back and take a look but I don't have the time) Thanks :)

[MoogleBoss]

No, I don't think I explained how levels are kept low in any of the previous videos.

In FF6, bosses don't give any experience, and there are only three cases when you absolutely must level up. As of today, a clever method has been discovered to prevent the exp gain even there, but I can't exploit it in this challenge due to the No Items rule.

[jamman01]

I really am amazed how many enemies can be killed by MP loss. I always thought the only one you could kill that way was one of the 8 dragons. I cant remember if thats the first 8 or the second 8

[ShiningGlaceon]

Excellent well thanks again for that helpful insight ^_^

[MAZZ0Murder]

pretty awesome as usual!

[MoogleBoss]

Doesn't work in this FF, I'm afraid. It will reflect only once, and do less damage than it would if you just cast the spell normally.