I’ll be ranking some of the most difficult boss fights in FF12, specifically The Zodiac Age version of the game. The boss stats in The Zodiac Age version are slightly different than in the original PS2 version, so this list will account for any changes. So let’s get to it!
10. The Demon Wall
You might think, “Why is this boss on the list? It’s super easy”. But maybe you forgot about its telega ability. Or the timer attached to this boss fight? I know he can be pretty easy to take out with a quickening chain, but maybe you don’t have any unlocked yet. The Demon Wall has 22,187HP at level 18. If you fail to defeat it before reaching the end of the hallway, you’re crushed between the weight of this demonic wall, and an ornate door. If that doesn’t sound hard enough, the torches that line the sides of your arena can be activated to randomly imbue one of two effects upon The Demon Wall: either making the boss move faster, or slower, towards the end. The Demon Wall also has a few abilities in his arsenal, one of them being telega. If a party member is hit with telega, they’re banished to the void and are no longer available for use in the boss fight. Fun right? Another ability Demon Wall really likes to use is knows as annul, which completely empties a party member’s MP to 0. So be sure to pack some ethers. However, as annoying as this boss fight can be, you also have the option of just running away from it with no detriment to your gameplay.
9. Mateus
Here we have the ice esper known as Mateus. By herself, not really that difficult. But Square-Enix couldn’t make the second esper battle too easy, right? Mateus is surrounded by five Ice Azer companions, who will spam your party with sleep and blizzard spells. If these guys aren’t quickly taken out, this battle can go south fast. Mateus also starts the fight casting reflect upon herself. So don’t think about using spells like Thundara or Thundaga, because you’ll only bring about your own demise. At level 50 with 209,060 HP, the esper Mateus is not someone to approach unprepared.
8. Fury
Fury is one of two side bosses you have to defeat to unlock the Chaos esper fight. Granted, Fury doesn’t have a lot of HP; only 69,710 in total at level 46. But he has a ton of evasion, making him difficult to hit with physical and ranged attacks. So magic is your best friend here. His attacks have a chance of inflicting berserk on your party members, which forces them to mindlessly attack, and likely miss as well. On top of that, once he drops to a certain HP level, he’ll use a bacchu’s wine item. This inflicts berserk status upon himself to attack you harder and faster than before. It’s highly recommended to enter this fight with dispel gambits ready to use on both your party members and on Fury.
7. The Mandragoras
The Mandragoras are a group of enemies you fight to continue through the Sochen Cave Palace. They’re accepted as a hunt, but still mandatory. To name off each enemy in the group, there’s: The Mandragora Prince, The Pumpkin Star, The Alraune King, The Onion Queen, and Topstalk. The Mandragoras are not too hard if you’re able to focus your attacks and take them out one by one. But if they swarm you and attack together, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed by fast attacks and status effects. Blind, sleep, slow, disable, silence, and sap are all status effects that you’ll become quite familiar with in this boss battle.
6. Phoenix
Phoenix is available to fight a couple of times, but I’m going to focus on his standalone battle in Penumbra. I think getting to Phoenix is the real challenge. But the fight can be also be pretty frustrating without proper abilities. Phoenix is a flying enemy, so you have to use the telekinesis technick, ranged weapons, or magic to dish out damage. If you choose to use magic, you’ll have to pay attention the whole time, because Phoenix will occasionally switch his elemental weakness. This allows him to absorb damage from all but one element. Be sure to have your best gambits set, because at level 59 with 134,089HP, Phoenix is a heavy hitter.
5. Hell Wyrm
It’s fair to say the Hell Wyrm has a very large amount of HP. So much so that it’s represented by multiple dots underneath its HP bar. It also hits very hard. Your party members will have a difficult time withstanding any attacks without the assistance of a bubble belt, or the bubble spell variant. His special attack Judgement also has a high chance of inflicting stop status, so be sure to bring along some chronos’ tears, or equip ribbons. Once you get him down to 30% HP, Hell Wyrm will also start casting stone breath. This will gradually turn your party members to stone. No fun. You’ll also have to look out for his invert ability which swaps a party member’s HP and MP stats. You’d have to act quickly to restore lost HP after that. The Hell Wyrm is level 74 and has 1,326,600HP in total. If you can handle all of that and weather the Hell Wyrm’s heavy hits, then you’ll eventually bring down this beast.
4. Ultima
And here we have the holy esper Ultima, found at the top of the Great Crystal. The battle begins quite easy: you just wail away at Ultima with dark element attacks or spells. If you have white masks or any holy damage absorbing variant items then those should be able to withstand her attacks. Once you get it down to 70% HP, Ultima will activate a magick barrier that rotates between different effects. Ultima’s barrier can slowly drain your party’s HP or MP, cause a gravity effect that slows your party’s actions, or lock your various attack, magick, technick or item usage. There’s nothing you can do to cancel these effects. You just have to use other respective abilities and wait until they run out. Try using abilities like bubble to keep your HP up during the drain barrier’s activation. And keep ethers on hand for that MP drain. And also, try to switch between attacks, technicks, and magicks respectively. This fight does require a good deal of attention to combat the different effects Ultima can dish out. And at level 63 with 258,001HP, Ultima is one tough esper to bring down.
3. Zodiark
Light and dark, right? The dark esper Zodiark is the last and most powerful of obtainable espers in the game. He doesn’t have a ton of defense, so there are ways you can take him down with a good quickening chain. Or maybe if you can berserk your whole team. But you had better hope you can do it quickly! Because when Zodiark hits low HP, that’s really when he starts to show his power. At the start, Zodiark will cast his most powerful attack Darkja every 20 commands. This attack is a very powerful dark elemental hit, with a chance of KO’ing your whole party. And it’s unavoidable. Towards the end of the fight, once you’ve lowered his HP enough, Zodiark begins casting Darkja far more frequently. About every 8 commands. And his casting speed for it becomes much faster as well. The recovery period after Darkja can take some time, so it becomes very frustrating at this point in the battle. Which is why it’s so important to try and take out Zodiark before he reaches that point. At level 66 with 336,847 HP, Zodiark is truly a scion of death.
2. Omega Mark XII
This spider-like foe is not easily squashed. Omega Mark XII resides in The Great Crystal like Ultima. But it’s in a different zone you’ll have to map out a route for. Omega Mark XII hits incredibly hard, and has a lot of HP to get through. He’s capable of basically spamming a super laser attack that can hit you for over 7000 damage. He also shifts his elemental weakness periodically, so it’s recommended to use non-elemental weapons for this fight. Omega Mark XII is also capable of healing chunks of HP back to himself (this is super frustrating for sure!) So if you don’t keep up with your onslaught, he can quickly turn the battle back in his favor. But here’s the good news: he has no special attack, so if you can manage his super laser and just keep patiently attacking, eventually you’ll take down this foe just like any other. Omega Mark XII is level 99 with a whopping 1,037,069 HP.
1. Yiazmat
The final mark. This is it, you made it. So take a break cause this one will take a while. It was a bit of a toss-up for the #1 pick here, between Omega Mark XII and Yiazmat, because of how hard Omega hits. But Yiazmat is truly a battle of attrition. This fight can take hours, and if you choose to walk away or leave the game on auto, you might return to see Yiazmat back up to full HP. Yiazmat has a large arsenal of attacks he’ll dish out, and none of them are easy to handle. He can chain his regular attacks multiple times, and each hit has a 5% chance of KO’ing the person it hits. Plus Yiazmat’s special attack, Cyclone, has a chance of inflicting stop and sap status effects. So bring along some chrono’s tears or be sure to keep Ribbons equipped. And technically, you can leave this fight to recharge or take a break. But when you do, Yiazmat will cast regen on himself to restore lost HP. So don’t take too long on your lunch break. After maybe an hour, when you’ve done enough damage to him, Yiazmat will cast Reflectga on your party. You’ll have to quickly dispel your party members or Yiazmat will then cast the healing spell renew and restore himself to full HP, forcing you to have to start all over! Take a peek at this Eurogamer guide for some more tips on taking down this beast. Yiazmat is only level 73, but he has (drumroll please) 50, 112, 254 HP. Yup, 50 million. So I think it’s fair to say Yiazmat takes the stand for #1 hardest boss in the game.
