Current Events > Final Fantasy IV: Dark Elf is beating my ass. What do I do?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm just sitting here getting one shotted by this guy and I don't know what to do. Is there some secret I'm missing here?
---

Do you have metal armor and such in your inventory. Might want to put that back on.
---

CyricZ posted...

Do you have metal armor and such in your inventory. Might want to put that back on.

? That will magically work now? I had no indication that will work. I'll try it though. Thanks
---

dude. spoilers in topic title.
---

Replace metal armor with wooden armor, level up and dance to the FFIV boss music

You can put your good armor and weapons back on before you enter the room with the dark elf. It helps a lot.
---

Umm... That didn't work. My party instantly was down and I went back to the main menu. Am I missing something important here? That field is still active for me
---

quit the game
---

Really? I was sure you could equip the metal stuff before the fight but it has been a decade from the last time I played.
---

Nash Highwind posted...

Really? I was sure you could equip the metal stuff before the fight but it has been a decade from the last time I played.

@Nash_Highwind
I just checked a walk through on YouTube and apparently Edward is involved in some way? I haven't seen him at all. I guess I know what to search for now
---

Did you get the whisper weed from Edward? You cant win the fight without it.
---

You have to go back to the city nearby (I forget the name) and you have to find one of the side characters. They give you an item that's required to beat the boss.

One of the few things about the game that annoys me, since it's never shown or stated that you have to go to that character, or even that they're actually there.
---

Man I rebooted the game on my 3ds awhile back and it's still a great game with some challenge to it. Still one of my favorite final fantasy games ever.
---

Go to the castle close to the black chocobo forest. Edward is in that castle on the left side.
---

Nash Highwind posted...

Did you get the whisper weed from Edward? You cant win the fight without it.

Nope. No idea what that is or where to find Edward. So that's the secret. At least I know it isn't as hopeless as it seems
---

Thanks for all the info guys
---

Sabram posted...

You have to go back to the city nearby (I forget the name) and you have to find one of the side characters. They give you an item that's required to beat the boss.

One of the few things about the game that annoys me, since it's never shown or stated that you have to go to that character, or even that they're actually there.

Key rule to rpgs, explore the shit out of every town and talk to every single npc.
---

Highwind07 posted...

Lol I was too late to mention Edward.

There are two parts to this fight and IIRC you were supposed to lose the first one and then the second time it allows you to equip the items again.

Equipping them right before the first part makes it faster, it triggers the cutscene instantly rather than wasting time.
---

I feel dumb because I still can't find him. I'm turning this town upside down. I found a npc WAY out the way through a river that actually mentioned the whisper weed. No sign of Edward though. I bet I'm missing an obvious spot here
---

He's in the castle. Not the town.
---

Are you playing the DS version? I remember having one hell of a time with that boss, you just sorta have to keep at it.
---

stone posted...

He's in the castle. Not the town.

Yea I just came back to say I found him. I decided to randomly search the castle instead of the town and I found him
---

DepreceV2 posted...

stone posted...

He's in the castle. Not the town.

Yea I just came back to say I found him. I decided to randomly search the castle instead of the town and I found him

Good ;)
---

Good luck. The Dark Elf can be a pretty hard. You currently have probably the worst party for a very tough fight.
---

Nash Highwind posted...

Good luck. The Dark Elf can be a pretty hard. You currently have probably the worst party for a very tough fight.

Cecil, Yang, Cid, and Tellah I think?
One of the worst party throughout the whole game, against one of the worst bosses.
---

solosnake posted...

dude. spoilers in topic title.

is it really though
---

Nash Highwind posted...

Good luck. The Dark Elf can be a pretty hard. You currently have probably the worst party for a very tough fight.

Actually he was super easy. I think I'm very over leveled though. I fight every enemy I see and I don't know where to go at times so I fight even more because of it
---

I have played the game so many times that I know exactly where to go and end up under leveled.

But the next few bosses can be pretty rough(Unless you are playing the SNES US FF2 where everything is easy.). So being over leveled will be a big boon for those too.
---

stone posted...

Cecil, Yang, Cid, and Tellah I think?

Fuckin' sausage fest party.
---

you n'wah
---

Two big things that will help you

One, you can skip the scene with Edward if everyone is equipped with metal weapons and/ or armor when you talk to the dark elf. Don't change gear until you get into the room he's in, obviously.

And two, tellah is your best bet to take him down. When the fight resumes, cast Tornado (Weak on the SNES and Wind on the PS), and this will bring the boss to single digit hp. Afterwards there's one more fight, and you can get through it quickly using Bio (Virus in the SNES). Actually, it's possibly faster using that second spell in the first form but it requires that you actually got a few hidden items that require game mechanic and enemy knowledge you wouldn't have, nor would I recommend you try at your current levels.

Also, bio has the highest potency to mp ratio in every version of FFIV, period. It's also not resisted since it's non elemental damage so virtually nothing will punish you for using it.

Ah, tc already did it

Tornado and bio still destroy most of the game

DepreceV2 posted...

CyricZ posted...

Do you have metal armor and such in your inventory. Might want to put that back on.

? That will magically work now? I had no indication that will work. I'll try it though. Thanks

Probably answered already, but Dark Elf can only maintain his magnetic barrier when he's concentrating. Edward's twin harp resonating with the one he gave Cecil broke his concentration, and allows you to equip metal equipment again.
---

Speedrunners equip all metal armor to make the scripted part go by faster

They also run from most (if not all, I forget if they grind) random encounters in the game though. Running is really easy in this game. So Ive seen risky people keep metal armor on all but 1 party memeber that runs from every encounter
---

Alpha218 posted...

Speedrunners equip all metal armor to make the scripted part go by faster

They also run from most (if not all, I forget if they grind) random encounters in the game though. Running is really easy in this game. So Ive seen risky people keep metal armor on all but 1 party memeber that runs from every encounter

They might grind depending on the run

Any% will just credit warp so no grinding
Any% no credit warp doesn't because they can glitch after getting the last guest party member
Any% glitchless needs to
And any all boss or 100% runs will need to

There best speed runs actually reset the game frequently because it reverts where the RNG is and thus they'll know exactly which steps they're likely to encounter an enemy, which in turn makes the one fight they grind in any% glitchless a bit faster, enough that they know how much time they can spend looking safely and still be on WR pace.