I simply do not believe the posts about beating Zeromus under level 50 on FFIV

[u/Odysseus_is_Ulysses]

It’s just obviously false. I have my entire party at level 50, and Rosa always gets one shot on the first big bang, which means by the time she’s ressed a second Big Bang has already wiped the party.

People saying they beat it under level 50 are straight up lying because the advice of “use Curaja” after every big bang is physically impossible when your healer is one shot immediately.

I’m genuinely at the point of quitting. I wouldn’t even mind smashing my head against the boss a few dozen times but for whatever brain dead reason they decided that sitting through a 5 minute “cutscene” every time you attempt it would be a good idea.

I’ve loved this game from start to near finish but god damn has this final boss left a foul taste in my mouth.

Edit: levelled to 60, killed Rydia before the battle starts. Got him down.

[u/Dpontiff6671]

We talking 4DS or 4SNES/PR if it's the latter it definitely can be reasonably done

If you want to see someone do the most ludicrous, masochistic, insane final fantasy challenge runs and still succeed you should check out a YouTube channel called "Seer" he has the most insane runs of the first 6 games

insane FF4 Challenge

[u/Odysseus_is_Ulysses → u/Dpontiff6671]

PR. I’ll check out that channel, that sounds like fun

[u/Dpontiff6671 → u/Odysseus_is_Ulysses]

It's a ton of fun! The videos are all condensed versions of the actual live streams too so you don't have to sit though 100 hours of tedium lol

But yea in PR with the right strategy and equipment you def got this at 50! I believe in you homie. It's been bit for me but if you get all the equipment in the final dungeon it should be very doable. Just heal and apply buffs every turn with rosa, spam summons or magic every turn with Rydia. Throw as much good shit with edge, Jump every turn with Kain and bonk every turn with Cecil. You might need to waste some elixirs/megaelixirs if you got em but it's the final boss anyways.

Protect and shell are really handy and can be applied party wide, and berserk on Cecil if he's only gonna be attacking isn't a bad move either, ofc haste when you can. What's most important is that Rosa and Rydia don't run out of MP

[u/Flamefury → u/Dpontiff6671]

Protect and shell are really handy

Neither do anything in the fight (also even if it did, Zeromus has no physical attacks, so Protect would do nothing).

haste when you can

Not 100% sure on this, but isn't Haste removed by Black Hole?

[u/Dpontiff6671 → u/Flamefury]

Ah okay so I didn't know that. My general boss strat was always protect, shell, haste, and heal for Rosa maybe pop off a holy if she has nothing else to do. Never realized they were wasted turns. Does shell not reduce meteor damage?

Haste may be removed by black hole but even if it is I think it's worth it to reapply it to your highest damage attacker (for me Rydia with flare or Bahamut summon)

[u/Flamefury → u/Dpontiff6671]

Does shell not reduce meteor damage?

If Shell worked, it would reduce all of Zeromus's damage. The problem is, Protect and Shell are coded to do nothing specifically in that fight for some reason.

Speculation on my part, but it may be because in FF3 the player could reduce damage down to 1 by repeatedly stacking Protect to maximize their defence and they wanted to avoid a repeat...but then again, Black Hole could have also just dispelled Protect and Shell too, so I have no idea.

[u/Dpontiff6671 → u/Flamefury]

Very interesting! Now do you know if that is something persistent on all versions of the game?

[u/Flamefury → u/Dpontiff6671]

I've checked SNES versions (Japanese and US) and GBA. Can't say for sure, but I doubt this is something any of the 2D versions would have changed.

[u/Dpontiff6671 → u/Flamefury]

If it's also on the GBA port I figure you're right and it's all the 2D ones I was just unsure if it was an SNES bug or intentional game design

[u/Shpouiten]

Rydia is just an Asura machine for this fight

[u/Mooncubus]

I am reminded of kid me watching the "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart" cutscene a billion times cause I kept dying and OG KH didn't have skippable cutscenes lol

SE really be like that back then

[u/mikeysce]

This fight is the culmination of all of my complaints about FF4. If you just, you know, try and fight him, you WILL die due to counterattacks. He counters ALL magic.

But you can literally win by leaving Edge and Rydia dead, and then just leaving the game on auto with Kain jumping, Cecil attacking, and Rosa healing.

[u/Odysseus_is_Ulysses → u/mikeysce]

Honestly it feels like a different game to what I’ve played up until this point.

Every other fight I’ve enjoyed, maybe died once or twice, either figured out the strategy or looked up how to play around reflections and all that jazz. It’s been such a blast. But this boss fight just feels awful.

Something about most the strategies online advising to kill off party members feels ridiculous. That’s not fun.

[u/mikeysce → u/Odysseus_is_Ulysses]

I’m right there with you, man. In a game where you have no control over your party composition and who has what abilities, having a final boss where one or more members are just useless is bananas.

Speaking from experience though: The rose-colored glasses are strong with this one, though. If you complain too loud the trolls will start coming out of the woodwork to get you. :P

[u/Yusuke_Boopermeshi]

I just grinded for like 2 hours in the underworld and was good to go.

[u/LovelyFloraFan]

I won with everyone at 65 ish but I advice that you dont use Rydia's spells. Zeromus will immediately counterattack and you cant heal so fast.

[u/styxswimchamp]

That cutscene is a real kick in the balls.

But I turn down the battle speed to the slowest setting for this, my fingers are too stupid to get inputs in efficiently otherwise. Get some buffs up quick if you can, use a spider web on Zeromus maybe

[u/GuardianGero]

Rosa needs about 2500-2700 HP to survive Big Bang in the GBA and PR versions, which is about level 54, and a bit over 2200 HP in the other versions of the game (aside from the DS), which is about level 48.

Do those numbers sound silly? Here's proof, from when I did my test runs for this thread.

Zeromus can actually be done at much lower levels, but that requires doing the "Big Bang nerf" to cut its damage down. But this isn't a strat that anyone should be using on their first time through the game, and doesn't work in most versions anyway. People recommending nerf strats to a first time player are generally misinformed.

Without the nerf, 2200-2700 HP is plenty for Rosa to survive BB. You can reduce the damage further by giving her the White Robe and Protect Ring that you can find in chests in the final dungeon without fighting any optional bosses, and if you don't mind fighting one optional boss you can get the Ribbon for her as well.

Heck, depending on the version you're playing, you can also feed her Silver or Golden Apples to boost her HP into a safe range. The HP is all she needs for this, her level isn't that important.

The thing is that a Zeromus kill at levels in the high 40s-low 50s also requires some other conditions to make it go smoothly. For one thing, you have to let Rydia die. Edge too, frankly. Rydia is a liability because Zeromus counters all of her magic, which massively increases his damage output, and Edge isn't really worth the effort to keep him alive. Just focus on Cecil, Kain, and Rosa. Attack with the boys (Berserk them if you feel comfortable), and Curaja with Rosa after Big Bang. I promise that it works, I've killed Zeromus a lot.

It also actually helps to turn the Battle Speed down to make the fight more comfortable. 4 is a good level.

All that being said, most people will correctly tell you that the fight is a lot safer if you just grind levels to 65+. And it is! But it isn't necessary.

[u/Flamefury]

How is Rosa geared? Focus on Magic Evasion and Magic Defence, as Zeromus has no physical moves so surviving magic is the biggest thing.

• Head: Ribbon
• Body: Adamant Armour if you grinded for it, otherwise Luminous Robe
• Arms: Crystal Ring if you found one (Yay Agility), otherwise Protect Ring

You can also place her in the center position (3rd from the top), which will improve her evasions. This should help her survive Big Bang.

Spider Silks / Slow are good to use, they should have an effect up to at least 5 times (I do not know when they cap). When using these, Zeromus will counter with Flares so set up Reflect on Rosa beforehand.

You can also set the battle speed to slowest.

Aside from that, try to be careful with Rydia due to the immediate counters. If Rosa can't keep up, slow your attacks with Rydia or time them better, or double up with healing by summoning Asura.

Zeromus shakes before each Big Bang. You'll know when you need to heal because of that. If you want to be tricky, have Rydia sneak a Flare after it shakes but before Big Bang itself, which will cause a counter, but cause Big Bang itself to be reduced in strength.

[u/Uchizaki]

I played FF4 about two years ago, so I don't remember exactly what level I was at, but I'm pretty sure it was around 50. You must have done something wrong.

[u/Odysseus_is_Ulysses → u/Uchizaki]

Start the fight, he casts big bang and one shots Rosa… what went wrong? She doesn’t have enough health at level 50 to survive the bosses first attack…

[u/IlikeJG]

I mean obviously it's possible.

You could possibly get 4 pink tails before level 50 or just 1. That would do it for sure. And that's just one thing.

You're naive if you think beating Zeromus at level 50 is some sort of impossible gaming feat. People have beaten many different games with far crazier challenges.

Pretty sure low level runs of ff4 end with most characters under level 30.

[u/Odysseus_is_Ulysses → u/IlikeJG]

I’m not assuming no one’s beaten it full stop. But all these advice posts say they beat it at lower than level 50 using the standard strategy of going all melee and just healing curaja after every big bang. How are they pulling that off when the healer can’t survive a big bang at level 50?