Instant death spells are not useless in FF2.

[SC_Nikki]

In any RPG, I pretty much never used any insta-kill magic, because it seems to rarely work... but FF2 is a different story.

This run, I barely even leveled up any weapons at all, and just spent the game transporting most enemies to another dimension (or sent them running away as toads). Even the Genji bosses in Pandaemonium succumb quite easily (as in, one casting). Teleport and Warp were the best by far, and you get the benefit of Teleport as soon as you recruit Minwu.

Give the basic elemental spells to Firion, Maria, and Guy, then go north of Fynn and practice using them (and Teleport) on Land Turtles, Ogres and the like. If you're lucky, you may get tomes from the Ogre Mages like Sleep and such that can be sold for lots of money.

Once you've built your skill levels and HP a bit, take it to the Captains in Fynn. They can usually be banished with a single cast of Minwu's Teleport, and due to their high Rank, you can easily level your weapons and magic if you wish. It doesn't take long. You can sell the tomes and gear they drop, or use it yourself.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2794999105

Once you've accumulated a measure of riches, you can journey to Mysidia and buy powerful weapons, armor, and magic. I found Mini (which can't be obtained until you reclaim Fynn) to be the least useful of the insta-kills, but Break is pretty decent. I didn't have as much experience with Death, as I saved it for Leon at the end.

Anyway, from there, it's pretty much smooth sailing! Rip through FF2 with advanced gear, or keep using the instant death spells; they only get better. Personally, I liked giving two to each character, for example, Warp and Toad, or maybe Teleport and Break.

I realize all this is common knowledge to "the pros," but it could help newer players who might be struggling. :)

ALL-IMPORTANT EDIT: Oh, and by the way! Using almost any equipment will kill the accuracy of your magic, so only wear the basic Clothes or different types of Cuirass at first; later in the game, the Black Garb, Gold Hairpins, Protect Rings, White and Black Robes are okay too.

As for weapons, knives and staves (except "maces" like the Werebuster and Power Staff) are safe.

[Sneep Snorp]

I feel like instant death spells arent bad when leveled but the reward does not make it worth the grind. To this day dual axes with the beserk spell does such stupifyingly high damage that I dont need an instant death spell, Ill just one shot everything. Even Ultima at high levels is still weaker than this.

[SC_Nikki]

Originally posted by Sneep Snorp:

I feel like instant death spells arent bad when leveled but the reward does not make it worth the grind. To this day dual axes with the beserk spell does such stupifyingly high damage that I dont need an instant death spell, Ill just one shot everything. Even Ultima at high levels is still weaker than this.

The hidden beauty of FF2 is that there are so many different ways to play it. ^_^
Or should I say, break it. XD

[Sneep Snorp]

Originally posted by SC_Nikki:

Originally posted by Sneep Snorp:

I feel like instant death spells arent bad when leveled but the reward does not make it worth the grind. To this day dual axes with the beserk spell does such stupifyingly high damage that I dont need an instant death spell, Ill just one shot everything. Even Ultima at high levels is still weaker than this.

The hidden beauty of FF2 is that there are so many different ways to play it. ^_^
Or should I say, break it. XD

Honestly yeah, the game is so flawed in so many ways but I wish that in future titles they improved on the idea of using your skills and stats to actually improve them it’s an amazing RPG concept that I feel nowadays could be pulled off way better than it was back here I wish it would return even if it means Guy is essentially a demigod since he can auto attack for 2000 plus damage by the mid game

[SC_Nikki]

Originally posted by Sneep Snorp:

Originally posted by SC_Nikki:

The hidden beauty of FF2 is that there are so many different ways to play it. ^_^
Or should I say, break it. XD

Honestly yeah, the game is so flawed in so many ways but I wish that in future titles they improved on the idea of using your skills and stats to actually improve them it’s an amazing RPG concept that I feel nowadays could be pulled off way better than it was back here I wish it would return even if it means Guy is essentially a demigod since he can auto attack for 2000 plus damage by the mid game

One thing I really wish didn't exist was the magic penalty from gear. It just sucks that, if you want an effective magic user, they can't use anything other than knives, staves, and the basic clothes. No shields, not even gloves! >:(

[Sneep Snorp]

Originally posted by SC_Nikki:

Originally posted by Sneep Snorp:

Honestly yeah, the game is so flawed in so many ways but I wish that in future titles they improved on the idea of using your skills and stats to actually improve them it’s an amazing RPG concept that I feel nowadays could be pulled off way better than it was back here I wish it would return even if it means Guy is essentially a demigod since he can auto attack for 2000 plus damage by the mid game

One thing I really wish didn't exist was the magic penalty from gear. It just sucks that, if you want an effective magic user, they can't use anything other than knives, staves, and the basic clothes. No shields, not even gloves! >:(

I had a black mage setup on Maria with a bow she was still able to hit relatively effectively but had no armor on only a robe and was in the back row, the lower accuracy was worth it to add in the fact she had a 600 plus damage per hit bow that by the late game was 1000 plus damage on autos alone not counting her insane spell power

[hiro1protagonist]

Even after the patch (fixed status ailment thing more below), insta kill type works. Oh and give your osmose spell to your main attack magic user, and also that is the better way I found to stop enemy spell casters is to use that.

Teleport tends to work more often than warp, I think lvl 3 it started putting monsters elsewhere, where warp didn't do that until 5.

I noticed lvl 7 and beyond (I only get them up to 11) is where I find the insta kill stuff works more.

I designated maria as attack mage, so she only got the basuna, cure, life, esuna, and rest attack spells most insta death ones (she got both warp and teleport but hindsight could give one to the other members).
BTW she must get the first osmose. And osmose is uber useful if you cast a lot (even if you have full MP, which grind ppl find that happening mid game), and you can get tomes from wizards in cyclone dungeon and imperial castle (don't finish those until you tomes as colisium wizards are rare encounters and drop rate sux in this game so best chances are cyclone n imperial)

frog and mini were split between support guys (they tended to be attackers) and they work surprisingly well past lvl 7, but enemy will insta flee. I tend to use them when clearing the board so only one enemy remains to level up shield / evasion or be the hit taker / cure guy.

Also spells that can be levelled via menu cast (like cure, esuna, life, teleport, warp) tend to level much better than in combat (where enemy rank and spell level tend to factor in, short of this is enemy rank needs to be high and spell rank lower to level, or else you have to cast several times before a spell will get xp, even if you have rank 7 enemies like former bosses or end game ones, and lvl 7 spell you have to cast 3X to gain some xp).


I did the double shield, even mages (this is op in PR by mid game nothing can hit you and your barefist is usually one shot) a few runs. Even with light armor / helm and double shield Maria (attack mag) she still was doing major spell dmg. One of the turtle bosses went down by one cast (well after one of the "black belts" got a hit in) with her double shielding. That said, once she has her evade to max, taking the shields off and going dual knives or staves and even pandemonium enemies get premium magic hits.

Magic is awesome but physical attacks tend to rule the roost here. Also group magic hits sux and damage spread is to little but individual magic dmg if you have it high enough tend to one shot.

glad they fixed the status thing on PC, essentially status ailments always land on PC PR, the console PRs it was fixed in short order but PC not so. my cousin was playing the Steam PR FF3 before they patched her copy, man those karls (cat thingys) would party wipe if ambush, even one cat could take out 3 party during ambush or back attack. Or the bees would insta poison whole party. but offside of the coin it went both ways, once she had lvl 7 break, warp, death, she could one shot the 9 karl crew (BTW you could level warp by going into a town, castle, dungeon, cave etc and cast it, same with teleport even if Maria's hp is 1, you can do it over until outta MP, just heal and watch the encounters after done levelling spells or turn it off). Mini and toad make the enemy insta flee, which I thought was weird cuz in other FF they hang around. Yeah literally she had to auto save after every game in some later game dungeons just cuz isnta kill spell types 100% landing rate made party wipes a thing. It isn't so bad as the game auto save if you go up or down a level or into a new room, so she tended to use the empty rooms for an auto save . . . After the fix the karl cat crew weren't scary.


this is off topic but related. I noticed spells like silence, sleep tend to work a few rounds and "wears off", but certain ones like fog really work on stopping spell casters (as well as using osmose 2-3 times).

[SC_Nikki]

Aww, thanks for the in-depth reply, especially after so long. It's always nice to find someone else who appreciates FF2. :)

Originally posted by hiro1protagonist:

this is off topic but related. I noticed spells like silence, sleep tend to work a few rounds and "wears off", but certain ones like fog really work on stopping spell casters (as well as using osmose 2-3 times).

Yeah, sleep is totally worthless in FF1 especially. It seems worse than it used to be, especially if the spellcaster is slow (it auto-abates at the end of the turn, so if you just cast it, welp).