How to beat Tiamat in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

The first of the Four Fiends you will encounter is Tiamat, a multi-headed dragon capable of spewing poison, wind, and lightning your way. Tiamat is a tricky fight thanks to her quick strikes, ability to close gaps very quickly, and high break gauge damage. Combine that with a second phase that adds a self-heal as well as an auto-targeting laser attack, and you’ve got a recipe for frustration. Here’s how to beat Tiamat in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

Tiamat is split into two phases, but the majority of her attacks are introduced in the first phase. These attacks are as follows:

• Swipe: Tiamat will swipe at a target one to three times with a combination of claws and fangs.
• Tail Swipe: Tiamat will swipe her tail one to two times.
• Tempest: Leaping backward, she will spew four wind orbs. This is Steal-able via parry/block.
• Macro Burst: Tiamat will charge up multiple lasers and send them straight ahead. This attack cannot be blocked.
• Breath: She will spin around, spewing lasers in a 360 degree radius around her. There is a safe spot directly next to her, however.
• Whirlwind: She will summon three whirlwinds that expand outwards from her. This can be parried, and with each parry, one whirlwind fades.
• Ground Pound: Tiamat will leap into the air and attempt to flatten her target.
• Poison Gas: Leaping backward, Tiamat will send out Poison orbs in front of her. This is Steal-able via parry/block.
• Ire of Dragons: Tiamat will concentrate wind energy around her, automatically negating and countering any damage for a few seconds.
• Thunderbolt: Leaping backwards, Tiamat will throw out four electric orbs. This is Steal-able via parry/block.
• Tri-disaster: Charging up, Tiamat will shoot forward a massive group of lasers. This cannot be blocked. This attack only appears in Phase 2.
• Wind Blast: Tiamat will shoot forward an orb of wind energy very quickly. This attack appears only in Phase 2.
• Regeneration: Once Tiamat gets low enough, she will roar, knocking back everyone and rapidly healing for 99,999 health up to half of her HP. This also heals her break gauge, but does not restore maximum break gauge. This attack only appears in Phase 2.

The trick to surviving Tiamat’s fight is to recognize when to hit and when to parry. Typically, you will only be able to land two to three hits before needing to parry or dodge away. If Tiamat uses Breath, and you are right up next to her, this is the best window of opportunity for a combo ability. Tiamat is weak to its own attacks, but Thunderbolt, Poison Gas and Tempest don’t do significant damage, so it’s not a priority. What is a priority is hitting her heads. Each of her heads has it’s own hitbox, meaning that large weapons and AoE attacks will deal consecutive damage to her single health bar.

Phase 2 is where things may get interesting if you’ve breezed through the story thus far. Tiamat will continually use Regenerate when she gets low on health, healing rapidly back up to 50% — too rapidly for you to out-damage. Instead, you have to reduce her Break Gauge’s maximum limit via Lightbringer and other Combo Abilities. Tiamat gives you plenty of windows of opportunity in Phase 2 — she will use Breath more often, and also use Tri-disaster frequently as well.