Thunder Plains

Humbaba can be a tough boss, and it has quite a few tough attacks to deal with:

• “Uppercut” deals heavy damage to one character and delays their next turn significantly
• Its regular physical attack hits one character for moderate damage
• “Thundara” and “Thundaga” are the lightning-based attacks mentioned above
• “Tyrant Tail,” used once its HP drops below a third, deals around 800 damage to all party members and delays their turns
• “Meteor” is non-elemental damage that deals 8 total hits

You can use Dispel from a White Mage or Dispel Tonic from an Alchemist to remove many of the “Mighty Guard” effects, which are definitely the most annoying parts of the fight. You can also have a Samurai use its Fingersnap ability to remove the stat boosts it receives. Leaving “Mighty Guard” active will greatly reduce the amount of damage your characters deal over the course of the fight.

Humbaba is just like other behemoth-type enemies you’ve fought in the Final Fantasy franchise (you’ve almost certainly seen one in Final Fantasy X, at least). It will always cast “Meteor” as its last attack, and this will deal a heavy amount of damage to all party members. Make sure you have a White Mage or an Alchemist keep your party members healed up in preparation for this last attack.

If you’re having trouble dealing enough damage, you can have a Dark Knight use their Darkness ability or have a Gunner use their Cheap Shot ability to deal damage through any shields and high defense.

Enemy	HP	Steal	Drop
Humbaba	27772	Hi-Potion x2 (common) Ether (rare)	Hi-Potion x4 (common) NulShock Ring (rare)

The most notable aspect of this fight is the three Watchers that accompany the Machina Panzer. These are the same three Watchers that have been spawning in random fights over the last few chapters. As a reminder, Watcher-A was recording any attacks you performed, Watcher-R was recording any recovery abilities, and Watcher-S was recording any special abilities.

While the Watchers are active in this battle, they’ll lock out any abilities they watched you perform in the battles they participated in. No matter how many abilities they recorded (hopefully very few because you should have defeated them first), the strategy is the same. Defeat the Watchers as quickly as you can. Start by taking out Watcher-R so you can heal your party members, and then slowly attack your way through the other two. You don’t need to use “Attack Abilities” or “Special Abilities”; regular Attacks will do.

Machina Panzer has the following attacks:

• Its regular attack hits one party member for approximately 400 damage
• “Gatling Gun” hits one or more party members for 24 hits at approximately 50 damage per hit
• “Sorcery Ray” hits all party members for around 1,000 damage

The attack pattern is always the same. Each attack, it has a 75% chance of using its regular attack and a 25% chance of using “Gatling Gun”. It will use “Sorcery Ray” twice during the fight; once when it drops below 50% HP and a second time when it drops below 25% of its HP.

Start by taking out the Watchers with regular attacks, as mentioned above. This is another great opportunity to use your Dark Knight’s Darkness ability, which deals damage to the Dark Knight but also hits every enemy for a pretty high amount of damage. Once you’ve taken out Watcher-R, swap one party member to their White Mage or Alchemist role to start healing up the other party members.

Machina Panzer isn’t immune to a Warrior’s Power Break, which greatly reduces its damage. You can also use a Berserker’s Intimidate or a Songstress’s Slow Dance ability to reduce the number of turns it gets, which also greatly reduces the amount of incoming damage you’ll have to deal with.

Finally, if you’re having trouble surviving the damage, you can have a White Mage cast their Shell ability on party members, which will reduce the amount of damage dealt by Machina Panzer’s strongest attack, “Sorcery Ray.”

Enemy	HP	Steal	Drop
Machina Panzer	30500	Oath Veil	Crystal Bangle