FFVIA LLNSNI Part V: Number 024
15I overestimated the difficulty of this boss and faced him under stricter restrictions than I was able to.
I reached Number 024 without wasting any MP and got Sabin to critical health which was part of the strategy. My goal at the point was defeating the boss by wasting as little MP as possible so that Cyan, Sabin and Locke would have an easier time at the Mine Cart ride. What I did forget is that their MP is recovered automatically when the ride begins, meaning all MP can be freely wasted here without any regret.
But I didn't know that when I faced the boss so you see me trying to end this battle by wasting only Celes's mana and trying not to spend any of other people's magic.
If we fought Number 024 in a straightforward way, like in a normal low level game, we would fail this battle. You see, we have absolutely nothing that would deal respectable damage to the boss. Gau casting Giga Volt would work, but Rage is a special command, making Gau a bad character to take along at this point.
The boss attacks physically for the first 30 seconds, sometimes using that special attack that confuses the target, but then the 'fun' starts. He shifts his elemental weakness and unless we use Libra we can't figure out what exactly he is weak to. Once he does it thrice, he goes berserk with overpowered healing magic. There's no way we can deal more damage to him than he can heal himself for.
So, what's to be done? The boss is vulnerbale to the Imp status. When imped, he can't shift phases and cast magic. However, his physicals get nasty, being always critical and we can't survive them at all (the lack of means to revive shows here). So Imp is out of the question.
There's also Sleep, and that's more acceptable. When the battle begins, Sabin, standing in the front row and doublewielding the Burning Fist and a Poison Claw (or something), attacks the boss. He's in critical health, and Cyan is equipped with defensive relics and the best equipment to date, as well as Knight's Code, so he will take damage for Sabin whenever he is hit. After Sabin attacks, Celes immediately puts the boss to sleep. It's never missed for me.
Then, Sabin waits for Celes's turn to come again and attacks again. A Sleep spell follows immediately.
Even asleep, the boss is very likely to counter, so Cyan should be healed whenever necessary.
Being in the front row and attacking with the Attack command so often gives Sabin good chances to execute his desperation attack.
Unless Cyan eats a critical attack, this is a failproof strategy.
If I had known about my MP being recovered immediately afterwards, I'd have let everybody else help out by casting offensive spells. But it still works fine.
I later redid the battle to steal the rare Blood Sword (aka Drainer). I believed it would be a must for the mine cart but I didn't need it.