Quick Links
Toward the end of the game, Final Fantasy 5 plays host to an assortment of optional battles against obscenely powerful foes. There's Bahamut, the King of Dragons and a series staple. There's also Odin, not just a Norse hero but another Final Fantasy veteran. But neither Bahamut nor Odin hold a candle to the secret creatures stalking the depths of FF5's last dungeon: Shinryu and Omega.
Omega is a monster. More accurately, a mechanical monster. This chrome-covered nemesis is so strong that it doesn't even follow the game's own rules. The maximum character level in Final Fantasy 5 is 99, but Omega is somehow Level 119. It has a dozen attacks and not one of them can be taken lightly. Waltz into Omega's waterfall lair without a plan and you can forget about stopping Exdeath from bringing everlasting darkness to the world, because you won't be around to see it.
Maybe we're laying it on a bit thick here. There is, in fact, a way to make scrap metal out of this menacing machine. Our guide will teach you precisely how to do that.
Where To Find Omega In Final Fantasy 5
Midway into their trip through the Interdimensional Rift, the Warriors of Light will come upon a zone designed like a dreary cave. It's just one of several strange areas in the Rift, but it's easily distinguishable from the rest.
Follow the main path through the cave and you'll eventually come upon multiple small waterfalls. Keep at it until you find a save point. It probably goes without saying, but save your game here so you don't have to backtrack a bunch if Omega scores a win.
After the save point and just before the cave zone transforms into a library up ahead, this technological abomination can be found. It's almost impossible to miss, but most players are wise to walk past it and continue their way to FF5's finale. If you leave Omega be, it will leave you be, which maybe flies in the face of prior claims that it wickedly awaits your arrival, but the fact remains that it can and will prove to you it is very much a killer robot.
A List Of Omega's Possible Attacks
Instead of jumping straight into a battle plan, let's take a moment to see what Omega can do. Awareness of these abilities should give you a solid idea of why the machine is so feared.
|
Attack |
Effects |
|---|---|
|
Wave Cannon |
Inflicts Sap and deals damage to all party members equal to half of a character's maximum HP. |
|
Delta Attack |
Damages and inflicts Petrify to a party member. |
|
Maelstrom |
Reduces the party's HP to single digits. |
|
Blaster |
Can either paralyze, or kill a party member. |
|
Encircle |
Removes a party member from the battle outright. |
|
Earthquake |
Major Earth-elemental attack to all party members. |
|
Rainbow Wind |
Inflicts Blind, Silence, and Sap. |
|
Flame Thrower |
Deals massive Fire-elemental damage. |
|
Atomic Ray |
A medium amount of Fire-elemental damage to all party members. |
|
Mustard Bomb |
Heavily damages and inflicts Sap on one character. |
|
Rocket Punch |
Inflicts damage equal to half of target's max HP and inflicts Sap. |
How To Endure Omega
Now that you know what you're up against, it's time to junk this automaton.
You're going to want your party to be at least Level 40, preferably higher, before you engage the enemy. Final Fantasy 5 aficionados can beat Omega below that range, but if this is your first song-and-dance with the big guy, there's no sense making things harder on yourself. 40, and even 50, is a fairly easy goal here in the Rift, with so many foes dropping massive experience points upon defeat.
You'll also want to equip Fire Rings on all four of your characters. This will allow the party to absorb both Flame Thrower and Atomic Ray, turning two of Omega's attacks into an extra source of healing.
Characters with the Float status active can levitate above Earthquake, nullifying all damage from the move. The Blue Magic spell Mighty Guard casts Float in addition to Protect and Shell, making it a prime choice in this battle.
How To Destroy Omega
Someone should have access to either Time Magic or the Bard ability Romeo's Ballad because contrary to what one might suspect, Omega is vulnerable to the Stop debuff. It only lasts a turn or so before the boss breaks free, but then, this wouldn't be much of a challenge otherwise.
A less surprising weakness of Omega's is Lightning-elemental attacks. Thundaga is good, but a character with the Mystic Knight's Spellblade command can do you one better with the devastating Thundaga Sword. If you're going to be relying on the traditional Thundaga spell, at least equip Dualcast; a strong enough mage can wreak havoc that way.
Speaking of wreaking havoc, one gimmicky way to win involves giving everybody the Mimic command and having them repeat Lightning-based attacks, alternating the strategy to heal and to cast vital buffs like Mighty Guard and Hastega. Even if you only manage to damage Omega for around 1500 HP each hit, that's 12,000 damage in a good round. Omega has 55,530 HP in total.
If you can spare the room, a Chemist's Mix command can whip up defense-lowering debuffs by combining Antidotes with Turtle Shells. This stacks! You can melt Omega's metal into butter in this manner. The trick is surviving long enough to do so, but if you have one party member on debuff duty and the other three spamming heals, your only major worry is whether or not Omega uses Encircle — and, if it does use Encircle, whether or not the move will knock a party member permanently out of the ring.
Ultimately, that's the one rough tide there's not much you can do about. There is one option, and that's the Time Mage's Return spell. If Omega puts somebody out of commission and you're too far from victory to stay alive without all four party members, this last-ditch casting will bring you back to the start of the fight.
Omega is a tough nut to crack, but with the above tactics in place, it shouldn't take but a few tries before it's crushed. We'd offer you our thanks for making the Interdimensional Rift a safer place, but when your goal is to seal the portal and more or less nuke the entire region, perhaps the whole endeavor was an exercise in irrelevant violence.