Contents |
Basic Information
Base Stats
Vigor | 30 | Battle Power | +30 | Bonus HP | +60 |
Speed | 30 | Def/M.Def | 30/42 | Bonus MP | +45 |
Magic | 42 | Block/M.Block | 6/12 | Run Chance | High |
Stamina | 30 |
Terra's stats are mostly on the lower side of average other than her surprisingly high Magic Defense and the game's second-highest base Magic stat. She has no particular deficiencies in any category other than Speed, which is somewhat below par - particularly on a character who can't raise it through espers.
Special Skill - Morph
Terra's special ability calls upon her Esper heritage to transform into a monster-like form. In BNW, Morph is a toggled state; Terra is either Morphed or not and will remain that way until killed or combat ends, at which point she will revert to her human form. Activating Morph takes some time due to its command delay, roughly about one turn of ATB, so bear that in mind when choosing to Morph.
While Morphed, all of Terra's physical attacks and spells do 50% more damage except those which ignore defense. This is because defense-ignoring attacks skip certain steps of the damage formula, including the one where Morph's multiplier is added. As a result, using the Atma/Omega Weapons or casting Break/Ultima with a Morphed Terra is pointless, as she won't deal any more damage than normal. None of her healing spells are boosted by Morph, either, as all curative spells and abilities are flagged to ignore defense by default. The Flare cast by the Apocalypse will also not be affected by Morph, but the physical damage component of the Apocalypse strike will be.
Aside from the above caveat, Morph's primary drawback is that it doubles all damage that Terra takes (except from attacks which deal fixed or fractional damage). This penalty can be reduced by raising Terra's stamina, up to a minimum of 25% at 96 stamina (a cap which Terra is unlikely to hit unless she's overleveled to hell and back). Bear in mind that Terra will never actually experience the full damage penalty of Morph under any circumstances due to her natural stamina, as well as that which is afforded by her gear. 5-10 levels of Stamina gains on top of that can definitely cut down the penalty significantly, but it will never eliminate it; Terra is always just going to be fragile in her Morph state and it will require extra preparation to keep her safe.
Most notably, a front-row Terra in Morph-stance is likely to die from just one or two physical attacks. However, the damage she can deal with weapons such as elemental swords, the Apocalypse, the Zantetsuken, or the Excalibur in this state is generally well worth the risk - she can even potentially break the damage cap by doing over 9999 damage between the weapon strike and random spellcast. Things look a little better for a magical Terra, as hitting the damage cap is all but guaranteed when a weakness is hit with a third-tier spell; no other character can claim to hit Fire/Ice/Bolt weaknesses that hard in a single turn, and Terra can do it with far less Magic investment than anyone else. More importantly, spells can be cast from the safety of the back row, significantly upping her odds of survival.
As a general rule, you'll want to try to avoid Terra dying at all costs while Morphed simply because it will cause her to revert back to her human form and the time spent constantly re-entering the Morphstance will eventually offset the offensive boost. The sole defensive benefit provided by Morph is doubled regen ticks, which is not to be seen as a primary draw of the ability but rather an additional way for more stamina to help keep Terra alive while she's wrecking house. Terra's ultimate dilemma is that the more her build focuses on raising stamina, the more defensively she wants to play and thus the less incentive she has to make use of her special ability. As a result, Morph will end up as a tool either to transform an offensive Terra into a glass cannon or to allow a defensive one to deal competitive damage whenever her support options are not needed.
Finally, note that Morph is not available until after Terra rejoins the party following the Cranes boss. Terra will also be permanently Morphed during the Phunbaba battle prior to her re-recruitment in the WoR. This state cannot be removed by dying as in every other battle, which may be a blessing or a curse depending on how she's built.
Espers
Unicorn | - HP +30 / Stamina +1 | Tritoch | - Stamina +2 |
Maduin | - Magic +1 / Stamina +1 | Phoenix | - HP +30 / MP +15 |
Carbunkl | - MP +25 / Stamina +1 | Ragnarok | - MP +40 |
Bismark | - Vigor +2 |
Terra has access to more espers than any other character in the game, and has not one but two espers unique to her in Tritoch and Ragnarok. Her broad array of choices includes the ability to raise every stat except her Speed, although she is limited to +1 Magic per level (although this is somewhat offset by her high base Magic). Note that most of her options are available to her before the WoR, although Tritoch and Phoenix do offer tantalizing boosts that might be worth waiting for depending on Terra's role and build. A Vigor or Magic-based attacking Terra, on the other hand, is ready to go well before the Floating Continent, a fact that strongly recommends her for that segment.
Terra can be bulky, have deep MP reserves, or be a brutally powerful attacker, but she can only be so many of these at once. Choices must be made! Just make sure she learns all of her espers' spells at some point, as her superior spell selection is one of her biggest advantages.
Spells
Cure | (Level 1) | Fire | (Level 4) | Scan | (Carbunkl) | |
Cure 2 | (Unicorn) | Fire 2 | (Level 12) | Dispel | (Unicorn) | |
Cure 3 | (Phoenix) | Fire 3 | (Phoenix/Tritoch) | Rflect | (Carbunkl) | |
Life | (Bismark) | Ice 3 | (Tritoch) | Shell | (Level 18/Carbunkl) | |
Life 2 | (Level 24/Phoenix) | Bolt 3 | (Tritoch) | Muddle | (Level 5/Maduin) | |
Remedy | (Unicorn) | Poison | (Level 6) | Slow | (Level 9) | |
Regen | (Bismark) | Drain | (Maduin) | |||
RegenX | (Level 30) | Break | (Maduin) | |||
Storm | (Bismark) | |||||
Ultima | (Ragnarok) |
Terra's natural magic progression gives her a good number of early spells that other characters pick up far later than she does, allowing her to contribute with powerful spells even before espers even exist. Her later spells give her unprecedented elemental damage coverage, as she alone learns all three third-tier basic elemental spells. She's no slouch in offense even before that, however, with Fire 2 and Break to do plenty of damage and Storm to provide solid MT damage to random encounters. And of course, she is the sole character to obtain the almighty Ultima... but by the time she has access to Ragnarok and learned the spell, there won't be many battles left in which to use it. Don't make Ultima a factor in your plans for most of the game, or you'll miss out on Terra's much more realistic options.
But attacking isn't all Terra can do. She's an incredible healer, with access to the Magic-based Cure line, the Stamina-based Remedy and Regen spells, and the fantastic full-party buff and heal of Regen X. She eventually has access to both Life spells, ensuring she can revive allies at full HP or throw out a cheaper and more efficient Life when the situation is less critical. She doesn't have much in the way of negative status infliction, but having access to Slow is a real plus against bosses, and access to the Scan + Dispel combination can save a ton of headaches against annoying Wallchange bosses as it will allow Terra to reroll their weakness and then find out what it is (and since she has access to so many elements, she'll be very likely able to hit that weakness).
Equipment
Terra, along with Celes, has possibly the best equipment selection of any character in the game. She has access to swords, thrown weapons, and flails, and her armor selection includes heavy armor and robes, helmets and veils (the latter of which are unique to herself and Celes), and all shields.
Terra's high defenses are a boon, especially if she uses Morph extensively. She will take far less damage from most effects than other characters, which can make her an ideal anchor as a healer/support character or supplement her as an offensive one. Armors like the Power Armor, Force Armor, Genji Armor, and Minerva are all worth looking out for and well worth using for their defensive and offensive benefits. She can use the Circlet for MP, the Genji Helm for physical damage, or the Mystery/Oath Veil for their various offensive effects. And with access to all shields, her evasion stats are also quite decent. Consider using the Aegis Shield if Terra is in a party that lacks Haste; her slow Speed is about her only weakness, so the Aegis Shield's Speed bonus and auto-Haste are of tremendous benefit. The Hero Shield is obviously another good option, since so few other characters can use it.
For weapons, Terra can get by most of the late WoB with the various elemental swords, which can do plenty of damage and cast useful spells. The Rune Edge (for its auto-criticals) and Soul Sabre (for its MP-refreshing Osmose cast) can also be handy. Late-game, Terra can wield the exclusive Apocalypse sword for auto-crits, high damage, and the chance of a Flare for even more damage. She can also make good use of the Zantetsuken and Excalibur Swords, as well as the Wing Edge and other thrown weapons. Never underestimate the power of a Morphed Terra dual wielding thrown weapons against enemies vulnerable to their triple damage effect!
Relics depend somewhat on build. Vigor Terra likes the Power Glove, Hero Ring, and Black Belt, as they all boost her prodigious damage output. Magic Terra favors Crystal Orbs and the unique Gem Box, which halves the MP cost of all of her spells. Other, more Supportive Terras might consider a Ribbon for status protection and the Gem Box for efficient healing. Sprint Shoes are also useful for auto-Haste, at least before an Aegis Shield can be acquired; after that, it's probably better to give Terra Haste through a Shield (or an ally) and save her precious Relic slots for things that really boost her playstyle.
Availability
Terra is the first character the player controls in FF6, and so one might be inclined to think her availability is high. But this isn't strictly true; while Terra is controlled all the way from Narshe through to the scenario split, her availability in the World of Balance actually is quite low thereafter. Her scenario is short, featuring precious little combat, and then she's available for the Narshe Battle and promptly leaves. She's gone for the Zozo and IMRF segments, critical parts of the early game. She does return after, however, and is mandatory for both the Sealed Gate and Crescent Island sequences. Like most characters, she is available for the Floating Continent (and can do quite well there).
She returns in the World of Ruin after the Falcon is recovered. While she can be met (and Phunbaba fought) before that, she won't rejoin until Daryl's Tomb is completed. Phunbaba is not a particularly difficult boss, so it's possible to recover her quite early in the WoR sequence, but it does still require that a boss be fought.
Terra's availability makes her an interesting choice as a "benched" character. In other words, by not leveling her up too much it's possible to give her plenty of extra levels to gain Esper bonuses over other characters. Since Terra has many stat demands and many options besides, this can be a very nice benefit. To do this, try not to level up too much in the Figaro/Mt. Koltz/Lete River sequences, or at least only level up Locke/Edgar/Sabin to carry the weight. Avoid most combat in her scenario (which is not hard), and don't use her much in the Narshe Battle. If she finishes the sequence below level 10, she'll probably have at least a few extra levels over many characters when she finally returns. And when she does return, it'll be post-IMRF, when almost all of her WoB Espers are available for use, including her +Magic and +Vigor Espers. Even if Terra's a bit behind when she rejoins, she can be trained up quite nicely right before the Sealed Gate sequence. A nice advantage for her, although at the expense of not being available against some of the most interesting bosses in the WoB.
Build & Role Options
Magical Powerhouse
Just because a build is obvious doesn't mean it's weak or boring. Terra is built as the game's premier magic damage beatstick with her massive and potent spell list, she has one of the highest base Magic stats, and Morph boosts most of her spells. So, why not exploit all of that and hit things with magic?
The great thing about Terra's spells is how varied they are. Nearly everything in the World of Ruin has some kind of weakness to one of Fire, Ice, or Bolt, and Terra alone can cast all three at maximum power. If something isn't immune to Wind, Break can be used as a cheap way to cut through Magic Defense and doesn't require that Terra use Morph and expose herself to extra damage. And when she's not nuking things, Terra can pitch in with healing and revival duties.
Terra's equipment spread further enhances this build. Put simply, most characters who hide out in the back row do so because their armor sucks and they're afraid to get hit. Terra is not afraid to get hit in the back row, and even in Morph she's usually in very little danger from physical attacks. Combine this with her astronomical Magic Defense when using Magic-oriented gear and it's going to be very hard to take her out, taking a lot of pressure off your healers. Meanwhile the back row has no impact on her damage output, letting her pitch Morph-assisted 9999s with her third-tier elements.
And naturally, it goes without saying that a magically-oriented Terra has access to some incredible lategame toys. The Gem Box turns her into a hyper-efficient caster who has more than enough MP to spare on healing as well, and upon defeating all eight dragons she'll also unlock the Ragnarok esper and its associated spell, Ultima. Only a magically-oriented Terra can unlock the true potential of Ultima, a defense-ignoring spell (which thus ignores Morph) that costs a ridiculous 99 MP. But with plenty of Magic levels, a Gem Box, and perhaps a Crystal Orb (which conveniently shows up right when Ragnarok does), Ultima becomes a reasonably efficient spell to cast and its damage is exactly as obscene as it sounds. The first two tiers of the final battle will melt to Ultima, and it cuts right through Kefka's auto-Shell to boot.
Terra's main weakness in this role is MP efficiency. Even with the Gem Box, she'll want a lot of MP levels, which cuts into her Magic gains. And since she has only +1 Magic available, this can hurt her long-term damage potential. And random encounters will be asking for her MP as well, since her main form of damage is always going to be spells. It's definitely worth pairing her up with someone who can restore her MP - either of the Figaro brothers does this masterfully, and Terra can return the favor with a Shell to shore up Sabin's otherwise piddly Magic Defense or heal up Edgar so he can dedicate his turns to something other than throwing Cure 2s on the party. Terra's lack of a magic-boosting relic for most of the game is also something of a downside, although one shared by all of the game's major spellcasters and in her case is alleviated somewhat by the presence of Morph.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Daduin / Carbunkl
Terra needs to pump Magic, and only her pops can provide it, so he's a lock. Since he only provides her with +1 Magic, it's going to take a lot of levels; dedicating at least half of them to improving her Magic is a very good plan. But she'll want MP as well, and Carbunkl is by far her earliest and most efficient option (Ragnarok is unrealistic in most builds as it comes too late).
USEFUL ESPERS - Phoenix / Ragnarok
A little bulk without compromising on MP makes Phoenix a great choice. While Carbunkl and Unicorn provide Stamina, Terra will already be getting a good amount of it from her mandatory +Magic levels. Phoenix provides everything Daduin doesn't, which makes for great synergy. Still, Carbunkl is available much earlier, and is a good kickstart to MP. It's also more efficient on a per-level basis. Phoenix makes a great closer option in the WoR though, and if any levels remain at the end of the road they can be given over to Ragnarok if necessary.
Physical Powerhouse
Terra's inclinations seem to be toward Magic. After all, she's one of the few characters with natural spell growth, she gets a ton of Espers to fill her spell list, and her starting Magic is considerably higher than her other stats. Worse yet, her only physical attacking option is to simply choose Fight. How can Terra be a viable physical attacker compared with the likes of Sabin or Cyan?
The answer is twofold, and the first part is one simple word: Morph. At equivalent stats and equipment, Terra does more physical damage than any other character. And with the ability to stack damage multipliers and random spell procs, she can more than make up for other characters' defense-ignoring attacks or other cute special ability tricks through sheer power. And it is powerful indeed: Bismark affords her +2 Vigor per level, which essentially translates to 3 points per level when under the influence of Morph. Only Cyan can claim to extract as much raw power from each point of Vigor, and only then because of his Bushido skillset.
The second reason is equipment. Terra has a massive equipment defense advantage over bulky characters like Cyan because she can use shields. Add to this her preference for swords and she has enormous midgame and lategame advantages. With the elemental swords for the Floating Continent and incredible end-game weapons like the Apocalypse (with its powerful Flare) or Zantetsuken (with its cleave/critical property and perfect accuracy), a Vigor-built Terra can rock the block off of most foes. With a two-handed Excalibur, she can easily hit the damage cap against the final series of foes if you're willing to forgo her shield... or still be incredibly potent even with one equipped.
And Terra's spell list hardly stands useless. She still has Life 2, which can resurrect any ally at full HP, and since she's not casting attack magic she can contribute with the occasional Cure 3, Remedy, or utility work like Dispel. All she really needs MP for is to use auto-crit weaponry and for support, so she can make it last. As such, she can go without much/any in the way of MP gains.
The power does come at a price. Stamina gains to help offset the incoming damage penalty of Morph are minimal in a Vigor build, which in most cases is going to want to be Morphed out and in the front row. Physical attacks will crumple Terra even with hefty armor equipped, although magic damage usually shouldn't kill her outright. So she needs to be kept healed, but beyond that, she really needs support to keep her from getting waxed by counterattacks. Characters like Shadow and Strago can provide constant Image status, giving her enormous breathing room, and Celes can provide Safe and plenty of healing. The benefits of attacks that blind all enemies, such as Edgar's Flash and Cyan's Eclipse, will also be greatly appreciated by Terra in this build. One option is to camp out in the back row with thrown weapons, although her enemies need to be floating for her to really do comparable damage there. She's also quite slow, so make sure she's got plenty of +Speed gear; a Black Belt and Aegis Shield are an amazing pairing on this Terra and will be greatly appreciated in most cases.
As a raw physical attacker, Terra also has some noticeable issues in random battles. Although she generally doesn't need Morph to kill many enemies in a single strike, she's reliant on either taking out major threats quickly or falling back on her spells, which aren't particularly effective outside of Morph in this build nor will she have much of a sustainable MP pool. Teaming her up with characters who can clear random encounters quickly is a very good idea: Shadow and Edgar are obvious choices, more than capable of picking up the slack for Terra in randoms and then providing her with the support she needs in boss battles. Boss fights, on the other hand, are where Terra can excel as an attacker. Haste her, Image her, Morph her, and start whacking. The results will not disappoint.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Bismark
As with a magic build, you'll want at least half of Terra's levels dedicated to pumping Vigor. Every Vigor level-up that can be spared is even more overwhelming power for Terra. Exactly how much Vigor is a harder question, and depends on how risky you intend to play with Terra.
USEFUL ESPERS - Unicorn / Phoenix
Terra is fragile when she's Morphed in the front row. Some HP is extremely important to keep her standing. As long as she's alive she can be healed, but once she drops she'll have to be revived and spend a turn Morphing again. Phoenix also gives MP, which while not that important to Terra in this role is never unwanted. In fact, it's likely preferable to the Stamina gains provided by Unicorn as this build is unlikely to accumulate of it to appreciably reduce Morph's damage penalty. On the other hand, Unicorn comes earlier in the game where Terra can get a lot more mileage out of a lot fewer HP levels, so it's really a toss-up that mostly comes down to early-game survivability versus late-game sustainability.
If you prefer to live dangerously, dedicating as few as 5 levels to HP/MP is perfectly viable, but you'll have to be careful. More conservatively, up to half of Terra's levels could be dedicated to HP as long as the rest are poured into Bismark. Carbunkl can be used sparingly if more MP is desired, but bear in mind that HP is far more important than MP and Stamina to this build.
Untouchable Support
So yes, Terra can deal damage, and she's very good at it. But one could look at Morph in different way: since it boosts Terra's damage to be on par with people who have invested more in stats than her, why not take advantage of that and just don't bother raising Terra's offense directly? At first it sounds crazy, but examining her esper list it actually makes a crazy degree of sense...
For starters, a Morphed Terra is pretty competent with weapons, and some of them mix her Vigor and Magic stats in terms of the damage they deal, namely elemental swords and the Apocalypse. No build will ever perfectly maximize those. Likewise, she heals and supports extremely well (Life 2 doesn't care about Magic, after all) and is very hard to kill outside of Morph. Can she be used as a support healer, then, and save Morph for those times where she needs to contribute large amounts of damage?
It turns out the answer is yes, she can. The key word is Stamina: Terra can get plenty of it while also picking up lots of HP and MP, and it has some surprising uses. First, it makes her even bulkier, and this Terra is going to be quite tanky outside of Morph to begin with - exactly what you want in your healer. Second, it reduces the damage she takes in Morph, allowing her to freely unleash her inner pink demon to lay down the hurt without being hurt too much herself. Third, it synergizes remarkably well with a particular pair of Stamina-based weapons.
See, the Atma and Omega Weapon(s) use Stamina in their special attack formula, and Terra can actually ram Stamina fairly hard, allowing her to go straight Stamina with no Vigor investment (something Celes can't do) and still see good physical damage output. The formula ignores defense, so isn't boosted by Morph, but that's just fine for this Terra, who only wants to Morph when she absolutely needs the offense boost. The Omega Weapon also boosts all of her stats, which is particularly appreciated by a build that isn't looking to raise her Magic or Vigor. Terra always loves Speed, of course, and more Stamina just compounds her build advantages. She also loves the Hero Shield in this build, making use of her extraordinary Stamina and auto-Regen to become nigh-unkillable.
This Terra performs remarkably efficiently in every encounter. Like a Vigor Terra, she isn't so great at randoms, but the Omega Weapon is quite useful for striking down individual foes and she can always employ magic if she needs to clear a troublesome group. With enough MP levels she can even afford to throw out spells more liberally than the more damage-oriented build. She also needs the Gem Box way less since her ultimate focus is on generally-cheaper healing and support spells - Regen and Remedy in particular become remarkably effective and cheap single-target heals with this build - so you can either use it for hyper-efficiency or trade it away to let Celes use the Soul Box or grab an early Crystal Orb. Instead of giving up everything to push Morph and Terra's damage numbers, just utilize Morph as a way to keep her damage on par when there's a lull in a boss fight. She'll do an exceptional job of that when she has to, and won't instantly die if something decides to hit back.
CRITICAL ESPERS - Unicorn / Carbunkl / Tritoch
Early on, focus on HP and MP with Stamina coming along for the ride. You probably don't want to over-invest or the Omega Weapon will be weaker, but it isn't like more HP and MP could ever possibly hurt Terra. Once Tritoch is available, stack Stamina like it's going out of style; anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of Terra's levels is prudent, but more or less is fine if more or less HP/MP is desired. Not only will it make Terra's Regen X incredibly powerful and her own Regen status a great self-sustain, it'll also make her Omega damage quite competitive for a character who isn't supposed to be a "real" fighter. Even so, put her in the back for boss fights and focus more on magic damage and healing.
USEFUL ESPERS - Phoenix
While you're not getting Stamina out of Phoenix, you are getting double dips in HP/MP from one esper. This may seem like an attractive option to pump HP without slowing MP gains, particularly if Terra is left to sit around for too long without leveling, but bear in mind that mixing Phoenix levels with Tritoch is unadvisable as it will provide less economy than alternating Unicorn and Carbunkl (5 Unicorn and 3 Carbunkl levels provides the same stats as 5 Phoenix and 4 Tritoch levels). Thus, Phoenix should only be used - in this build or otherwise - if you're looking to maximize Terra's HP/MP instead of her stamina, which in this case amounts to a significant variant of the build in question.