Battle with ASTOS

With the CROWN in hand, it's time to return to the Northwest Castle. There is a tough boss awaiting you there, so you may want to return to ElfLand first, or use a CABIN or even a HOUSE.

ASTOS

Sprite
HP 168
Gold 2,000 G
Experience 2,250
Absorb 40 Evade 39% Magic Def. 85%
Damage 26–52 Hit 104%
Critical Hit Chance 1% Attack Probability 25%
Magic Probabilty 75% Spells RUB, SLO2, FAST, FIR2, LIT2, SLOW, DARK, SLEP
Morale 255
Elemental Vulnerability
Encountered In
Northwest Castle
ASTOS is a nasty boss. He doesn't have much HP, but both his Absorb and Magic Defense are extremely high, and he casts nasty Spells like RUB, FIR2, and LIT2. You will need to rely on critical hits (preferably augmented with FAST) and the cumulative effect of attack Spells to defeat ASTOS.

ASTOS

ASTOS is an extremely dangerous foe, and luck will play a large part in this battle. ASTOS's physical attack isn't terrible, but 3/4 of the time he will choose to cast spells. These spells are incredibly dangerous, starting with the KO spell RUB. You can try to use MUTE, but the success rate of any spell is less than 1/4. He also sports a ridiculous 40 Absorb, making it difficult to harm him physically except with a Silver Sword or critical hits. If you don't have a Silver Sword, you may want to have your FIGHTER or RedMAGE use a Sabre for this fight, due to its superior crit rate compared to the Short Sword.

In a perfect world, your strategy is simple: cast FAST on your FIGHTER and follow up with the best attack spells you have. ASTOS only has 168 HP, so a sustained attack can take him down. Unfortunately, ASTOS's spell selection make this strategy much harder to pull off.

ASTOS will very likely take out a warrior with RUB in the first round. If he targets your FIGHTER (which will happen 50% of the time if he is in the first character slot), you can lose your main right off the bat. RUB will fail 1/3 of the time, but don't count on this happening. FAST is effective in this fight, but ASTOS's second spell will be SLO2, which counters it. Since you likely have few (if any) level 4 spell slots, you may want to hold off on FAST until after RUB and SLO2 to make sure it doesn't go to waste.

Every spellcaster in Final Fantasy will always cast their spells in a particular (cyclical) order, so take advantage of this to prepare your defenses. ASTOS's third spell is FAST, which isn't a problem. Even his double attack is preferable to his next few spells, FIR2 and LIT2. Both are devastating, and you would be well advised to cast AFIR and ALIT (in that order) if the battle starts to drag on. These spells deal more than 70 damage on average to nonresistant Warriors, but less than 30 with the proper A-spells in place. ASTOS will follow those spells up with SLOW, which may again require you to re-cast FAST. His last two spells, DARK and SLEP, are more annoying than threatening, but if the battle has gone on this long, he will start again with RUB, which you definitely do not want.

When ASTOS falls, you will receive the CRYSTAL. You'll still have to limp back to ElfLand before you're completely safe, though. Mercifully, there are no other required battles in this fetch quest. You'll have to make a few more quick stops, but the mystic KEY is nearly yours!