Contents |
Overview of Monster Changes
All monster weaknesses to specific elements were removed.
Most monsters still possess an additional hidden ability that can be unlocked using the Squire's Monster Skill ability. Hidden Monster Skills are now very powerful.
Monsters are now much faster and more durable than before and can compete with human units on the battlefield.
Chocobos
A properly utilized Chocobo is an absolute pain in the ass for the enemy team, or for yours if you face an AI team with one. Their basic attack, previously called Choco Attack, was replaced with Choco Ball throughout all varieties of Chocobo, which means their mobility is even further enhanced with a ranged attack. They are now faster and more durable than in the original game, and Choco Esuna is able to clear all debuffs in the game, making them an excellent, hard to kill support unit. Their Monster Skill, Choco Jinx, attempts to turn an enemy into a Chicken by removing 50 Brave- if the target is a non-boss unit, it will become a Chicken if its Brave stat falls below 10. While Bosses are immune to the Chicken effect, a Boss with no Brave stat is unable to use its Reaction skill.
Yellow Chocobos can use Choco Cure, letting them heal nearby allies or making themselves even harder to get rid of.
Black Chocobos can use Choco Guard, giving every nearby ally Double evasion until the next turn.
Red Chocobos can use Choco Meteor, which ignores evasion, deals magic damage and has a very long range.
Green Chocobos cannot be recruited and can be found in random battles. They absorb Earth, are very resistant to physical attacks, and can use Choco Quake to deal massive Earth damage to any nearby targets.
Dark Chocobos are only seen a few times in the entire game and act like a boss enemy. These corrupted creatures use dark magic to revive every ally chocobo on the map and to deal massive damage to their enemies. If you see one, kill it first.
Cactuars
The Cactuar, a new addition to 1.3, is extremely rare but extremely powerful. Cactuars fulfill a combination of roles that is a great addition to any team, and they do it better than humans. They can use 1000 needles to quickly eliminate weaker targets, though its damage becomes less reliable later in the game. Their LUCK+ ability, though inaccurate, fires instantly and has the ability to transfer the Cactuar’s turn over to an ally unit. Shockwave deals very low damage, but is instant, and if it connects has a 100% chance of applying the Don’t Move debuff, while Flourish specifically targets allies with debuffs on them and restores 50% of their HP. Flourish may only be used on targets that have debuffs on them. You can find Cactuars in random battles in desert areas and can disable and invite one with the Invitation ability from the Mediator job. Cactuars have no hidden Monster Skill, but possess the Blade Grasp Reaction skill, making them very difficult to kill with physical attacks – the only downside of this is that they have low HP.
Goblins
1.3 Goblins are very durable and powerful melee fighters. Ideally, you’ll want a Goblin with High Brave so that their Tackle attack does more damage and their Counter Throw reaction skill goes off with higher frequency. Counter Throw, since it’s based on PA and Goblins have a lot of it, becomes stronger and stronger as the game goes on. Their Monster Skill, Triple Impact, deals a large amount of physical damage at a distance and strikes 3 times, though its range of 4 is limited, so positioning is important.
Goblins can use Eye Gouge to Blind and Confuse an enemy unit and Turn Punch to deal AOE physical damage.
Black Goblins can use Revive to support their allies and Goblin Punch to deal their lost HP as damage from a distance. Never leave a wounded Black Goblin take a turn, as Goblin Punch can deal unavoidable damage.
Gobbledegucks have an improved version of Tackle called Mutilate, which has a 20% chance of instantly killing its target. Gobbles’ PA value is above average, and their Turn Punch is especially deadly.
Bombs
Bombs are now very durable units. The most important change to Bombs is that they all have access to a fire-based ranged ability called Flame Attack which actually carries the Fire element which allows them to heal each other. Their secondary ability, Douse, is a highly accurate AOE spell that inflicts Oil, which opens up a Fire weakness in enemy units and bosses. All Bombs have Self Destruct, letting them deal unavoidable damage to everything around them while KO-ing themselves. Bomb’s Hidden Monster Skill is Living Fire, which has excellent range and AOE and deals strong fire damage with a chance of adding Oil.
All Bombs share the same set of skills, with the Explosive having the highest MA value.
Tonberries
Replacing the Panther family (due to data space limitations) is the Tonberry. Tonberries are of average speed and average movement, but they have comparatively huge HP pools and PA values. Tonberries have two Reaction abilities: Counter and Meatbone Slash. If you hit a Tonberry with a melee attack, it will Counter you. If you hit a Tonberry with a melee attack and leave it in critical HP range, it will use Meatbone Slash against you, dealing its entire lost HP pool as unevadeable damage to the attacker. Their basic attack, Chef’s Knife, has a 20% chance to instantly KO a target, though proper positioning is needed since it is limited to a vertical tolerance of 2. All Tonberries can use Everyone’s Grudge, which harms a single target for the same amount of damage the caster has sustained . The Tonberry Hidden Skill, Damnation, has a range of 4 and instantly kills any unit that is buffed with Reraise.
Regular Tonberries are able to cast Voodoo, slowing and poisoning their targets.
Master Tonberries have access to Remorse, a very powerful skill that can interrupt any spells the target is casting. You can use Remorse to completely cancel large spells like Full Life or Summons.
Blood Stalkers can use Vampiric Gaze, which Absorbs 33% of the target’s life, transferring it back to the Blood Stalker.
Squids
Pisco Demons (also known as Squids) are the dedicated caster Monsters in 1.3. Their Reaction ability, Counter Flood, makes them very dangerous because it enables them to counter Magic and Physical attacks with elemental damage of their own. All Squids Absorb Water attacks and can use Aqualung, a powerful water-elemental attack to heal themselves or cripple their enemies. All Squids can also use Time Blast, an instant, single-target Haste, to buff their party before engaging the enemy. The Squid Hidden Skill is called Acid Rain, a long range, huge AOE physical spell that deals moderate amounts of damage and has a 100% to Slow and Poison everything in the affected Area. If you enjoy spell casters and are into Monsters, take advantage of Squids.
Pisco Demons can use Energy Blast, a Faith based attack that can reset the target’s CT and prevent their next turn. Energy Blast works on bosses and most Zodiac Demons.
Squidlarkins are able to use Psionic Wave, a magical AOE attack that can remove positive magic from targets.
Mindflares can use the notorious Mind Blast spell, an AOE debuff that can add Confuse or Berserk.
Skeletons
Skeletons in 1.3 are mobile, hit very hard from melee and range distances, and are difficult to get rid of. Skeletons have the HP Restore Reaction ability, meaning you should be careful when leaving one in critical HP Range, as they might just recover entirely from such a blow. In addition to HP Restore, any slain Skeleton has a 50% chance to return from the dead with a random amount of HP. Skeletons absorb Dark magic, and can heal themselves with Demi, Demi 2, or Death. The Skeleton Hidden Skill is Night Ritual, an extremely powerful map-wide spell that targets every unit on the board (even allies) and adds Sleep or Undead.
Skeletons can use Thunder Soul, a ranged Lightning Spell, and Demi.
Bone Snatches can use Aqua Soul and Demi 2.
Living Bones can use Ice Soul and Death.
Ghosts
Ghouls in 1.3 have HUGE mobility, thanks to their new 6 Move combined with the Teleport ability, you can frequently pull off 9 panel, 10 panel, or higher moves in a single turn. Ghouls have Blade Grasp, making them difficult to hit with physical attacks, and innate Transparent, making them bypass all evasion. Ghouls don’t have much durability or direct offense, but they make up for it with their ability to instantly drain 50% of a target’s MP and their various status attacks. Ghouls are great at wasting enemy turns with Blade Grasp and Teleporting behind enemy units for surprise status attacks. Their Hidden Skill is Unholy Champion, a huge buff spell similar to MBarrier that only affects undeads and removes all of their weaknesses. Unholy Champion adds Protect, Shell, Haste and Innocent, making Ghouls or Skeletons extremely difficult to kill and very dangerous.
Ghouls can use Zombie Touch to instantly Zombify an enemy target, making recovery for the enemy team more difficult.
Gusts can use Sleep Touch to instantly disable an enemy unit. Sleeping units take extra damage from physical attacks but will wake up when they get hit.
Revnants can use Grease Touch to instantly Stop an enemy unit. Stopped units no longer take turns and also persists through damage.
Flotiballs
Flotiballs in 1.3 have great mobility, are more durable, and can all cast Gaze of Doom to inflict Death Sentence from a distance. Their strongest attribute, though, is their huge MA stat, which when combined with their Reaction ability, Counter Magic, can make among the deadliest units in the game. Due to their innate magical ability, any spell that is Counter Magic’ed by a Flotiball is bound to be many times stronger than the original, feeble spell. A popular strategy is to give your Flotiballs some sort of magic protection and deliberately walking them in range of enemy spells. The resulting Counter Magic will have devastating consequences. Their Hidden Skill is Light Pillar, an extremely powerful focused beam of light that deals non elemental faith-based magic damage to a single target. Ideally, you want to get a Flotiball with high Brave and Faith values to best make use of its powers.
Flotiballs can use Gaze of Fear, which adds random negative statuses to a single target.
Ahrimans can use Gaze of Terror, which lowers the target’s Brave value by 25.
Plagues can use Counterspell, which breaks down the target’s MA value by 5.
Juravis
Juravis have high evasion, great mobility, good offensive stats and amazing speed. All Juravis types can use Zephyr, a random damage ranged attack with a 100% chance to Knockback (Knockback doesn’t apply to Immortal / Boss units or units with water panels / higher elevation panels behind them), letting them push enemies away or down cliffs for extra damage. Juravis can also use Wind Strike, a melee Wind attack that is difficult to dodge due to it being magic based. Juravis Absorb Wind, and can use Wind Strike and other abilities to heal themselves. Their Hidden Skill is Tempest, a long range AOE Wind Attack that can send enemies Floating in the air, rendering them vulnerable to further Wind attacks. Their Reaction skill is Hamedo, making them great for surviving in the middle of enemy generic melee units.
Juravis can use Pure Flight to buff themselves with Haste and Regen.
Steel Hawks can use Updraft to add Float in an AOE, rendering targets vulnerable to Wind Strike.
Cocatoris can use Beak for a chance to instantly petrify an enemy unit.
Uribos
Uribos in 1.3 are fragile, but extremely fast and agile. In fact, they are the fastest Monster in the game. All Uribos have access to a basic melee attack (Straight Dash) as well as Nose Bracelet, a 1 panel range Charm that is very accurate and can turn the enemy against themselves. Their Hidden Skill is Uribo Dance, a smart targeting AOE spell (think Vanilla Draw Out) that adds Confuse, Berserk, or Charm to affected enemies. Their Reaction ability is Critical Quick.
Uribos can use Please Eat, an inaccurate, but VERY powerful spell that adds Reraise, Haste, Shell, Protect, and Regen to a single ally. Unlike the Vanilla spell of the same name, Please Eat doesn’t kill the Uribo.
Porkys can use Pooh, a 100% chance 1 panel spell that adds Confuse or Sleep.
Wildbows have ridiculous PA and can use Oink, an instant 1 panel revival spell that brings back an ally with FULL HP.
Woodmen
Rarely seen or used in the original game, Woodmen are very powerful support units in 1.3. Their HP pool is massive, and their Damage Split Reaction Ability makes them even more difficult to kill. All Woodmen types can use Leaf Dance, a large AOE, unevadeable magic attack, and Magic Spirit, a huge HP / MP recovery spell that lets them function like a walking resource battery for their team. Woodmen Absorb Earth. Their Hidden Skill, Nature’s Fury, has 5 range, a large AOE, and attempts to apply Don’t Move or Don’t Act randomly against anything it hits. Getting close to and eliminating a team with a Woodman that has Nature’s Fury is very difficult.
Woodmen have access to Protect Spirit, a large AOE buffing spell that adds Protect.
Trents have access to Calm Spirit, a large AOE buffing spell that adds Shell.
Taijus have access to Life Spirit, a large AOE revival spell.
Bull Demons
Bull Demons all have access to Shake Off, a basic melee strike, as well as Berserk, an instant, highly accurate Berserk adding spell designed to shut down casters, forcing them to get into melee range. All Bull Demon types absorb Earth, are very durable, and have Meatbone Slash (yes, they should get a secondary R ability in a future update). Their Hidden Skill, Sacred Cleave, hits everything in a linear, 6 panel long area, letting them snipe enemy units with repeated Cleaves.
Bull Demons can use Wave Around to deal massive, unevadeable physical damage in an area.
Minitaurus can use Blow Fire to deal massive single target damage in a 2 panel range. Minitaurus also absorb Fire.
Sacreds can use Mimic Titan to deal Earth damage in a large radius.
Morbols
Morbols, also known as Marlboros, Malboros, Morblors, and Tentacle Monsters, are very difficult to kill due to their Regenerator Reaction Ability. This is good because it lets them survive long enough to get in range to deliver their payload- Bad Bracelet, a large AOE massive status inflictor that has a 20% chance of individually applying most debuffs in the game. This means that it can apply anywhere from zero to 8+ status effects at once, to multiple targets. Their Monster Skill is Malboro Acid, a long range non-elemental spell that deals massive damage with a chance to inflict the same statuses as Bad Bracelet.
Morbols can use Lick to instantly dispel all buffs and debuffs from a single target. Useful for disempowering buffed units and helping out your own debuffed allies.
Ochus can use Goo to inflict a highly accurate Don’t Act debuff on a single target.
Great Morbols can use Moldball Virus to instantly turn a single enemy into a Morbol. This doesn’t work on ally or enemy NPC’s.
Behemoths
Behemoths can take a tremendous amount of punishment due to the fact that they all have the MP Switch Reaction Ability, meaning as long as the ability triggers, it is impossible to 1 hit kill a Behemoth with direct damage. Ideally, you want a Behemoth with high Bravery to make better use of MP Switch and Stab Up. Their Hidden Skill is Meteorain, an incredibly powerful skill which hits all enemies on the map, regardless of position, with moderate magic damage.
Behemoths can use Lifebreak, a ranged spell that deals unavoidable damage, like Goblin Punch but with greater range.
King Behemoths can use Ulmaguest, an AOE spell that deals damage based on damage recieved.
Dark Behemoths can use Gigaflare, an AOE spell that deals non elemental magic damage.
Dragons
Dragons have great mobility, attack power, durability, and can use the Dragon Spirit Reaction Ability to bypass death. All Dragons are excellent melee fighters, dealing massive damage with Dash, or bypassing Evasion with Tail Swing, a 100% accurate melee attack that deals random damage- from low amounts to many times that of Dash. Their Monster Skill is Dragon Beam, a 100% accurate magic attack that has an 8 panel range, letting Dragons wear down targets without needing to move.
Dragons absorb Lightning and can use Thunder Bracelet.
Blue Dragons absorb Ice and can use Ice Bracelet.
Red Dragons absorb Fire and can use Fire Bracelet.
Hydras
Hydras, often regarded as the king of monsters in Final Fantasy Tactics, are still incredibly useful in 1.3, though their durability has taken a hit. All Hydra types now have access to Triple Bracelet, which deals massive physical damage in 3 directions over a 2 panel distance. Dark Whisper is also available on all Hydra types, giving them an alternate, though possibly unreliable, way of dealing damage from range. Their Reaction ability is Counter, and their Hidden Skill is Dragon Force, a 100% buff that adds Protect, Shell, Haste, Regen, and Reraise but only works on Dragonkin (fellow Hydras and the Dragon family of monsters).
Hyudras have more PA than the other two types, making their Triple Bracelet especially dangerous. They also have more HP.
Hydras have access to Triple Flame, a 3 hit fire spell that randomly picks panels it hits. Targeting uneven terrain will improve the odds of all 3 hits landing on the enemy.
Tiamats have access to Triple Thunder, a 3 hit thunder spell that randomly picks panels it hits. Targeting uneven terrain will improve the odds of all 3 hits landing on the enemy.
Demons
All Enemy-Only Monsters have received massive buffs. While they are still vulnerable to statuses, these special enemies are no longer the slow, sluggish, and easy to out-maneuver foes they used to be and they pose a much greater threat to the player.
Apandas can cast their entire repertoire much faster, have greater accuracy, and have had their skillset re-named and re-purposed.
Archaic Demons are now faster, have more hit points, and shorter charge times.
Ultima Demons now have an expanded skill set, making them the ultimate caster mini bosses. They no longer have Martial Arts, which could be seen as a drawback, however this makes their AI more prone to using magic and makes them harder to bait into getting too close.
During Chapter 4, Ramza can still learn Ultima from Ultima Demons. However, the spell is no longer miss-able and can be learned from late game random battles. Ultima is now much stronger than in the original game.