The Colosseum

The Colosseum is an evergreen location in the World of Ruin, as many Treasures can be wagered here to upgrade or exchange them. When you first earn the Falcon, there's precious little to gain at the Colosseum due to a lack of wagerable items and Characters to use the spoils, but this changes over time. Understanding how the Colosseum works is key to taking full advantage of it.

Aside from the arena battles, there are a number of people to talk to at the Colosseum. Ultros is now a receptionist, and the real Siegfried warns you about someone impersonating him. An Imperial trooper in the Main Hall will tell you to "talk to the Emperor twice" to find a secret treasure. The Emperor died on the Floating Continent, so you can assume the hint is not meant literally. There is an Inn here that costs a whopping 400 GP. Your Characters will be healed up at the start of each arena battle, so don't bother.

Colosseum Bets Mechanics

The system used in the Colosseum is not what you might expect when they refer to it as a "wager." When you put an Item on the line, you will lose that Item whether you win or lose the fight. If you run from the fight or are ejected from it (e.g., due to Chupon's Sneeze), you keep the Item but gain nothing. If you win the fight, you'll get the prize Item to replace your wager. As a result of these mechanics, you'll want to save before every wager, and reload if you lose anything unique.

Once an Item is chosen, you'll have to pick a Character to have fight. The opposing Monster and the item you'll win are both shown at this point. If the reward is listed as an Elixir and the opponent as Chupon, this indicates you've wagered an invalid item. If you do manage to defeat Chupon before he Sneezes, you will indeed win an Elixir, though doing so isn't easy.

As soon as your Character is chosen, the fight begins. There will always be one monster, and both sides fight as if Muddled except they attack their enemies instead of their allies. The implications of this are different for Characters and Monsters. Monsters ignore their usual battle scripts, instead choosing one random Ability of those on their Control list each round. Each Ability has an equal chance of being chosen, and if one Ability appears multiple times on that list, it will be that much more likely to occur. A basic attack always appears as one of the entries on the list, which can range from two to four actions. The Colosseum Bets list indicates which actions any given Monster can take. Note that monsters will still use their battle script for counterattacks in the Colosseum.

Your character is treated as if Muddled as well, which means you have no control over Colosseum battles. (This is another reason to save before each fight!) Your character can Fight, cast a random Spell, or use another Command they have available. Not all Commands will be used, and Characters won't use Items or summon Espers. They'll also gain no rewards from the fight aside from the prize, so don't expect to use the Colosseum to level up or train spells.

Battle Strategy

Because you have no direct control of the fight, the combat strategies in the Colosseum are significantly different than those of normal battles. You'll want to make sure your chosen Character has a solid defense, since the battle might drag on for a while as he or she casts useless Spells or otherwise wastes turns. Ribbons are invaluable, as are all Status-protecting items. Elemental protection is likewise very powerful in the Colosseum. The Elemental shields in particular are very useful since anyone can use them.

Once you have a solid defensive plan, you'll still need to actually defeat the monster. Spells are generally unreliable, as the fighting Character can cast almost anything they've learned (even Warp, which will end the battle). You could teach a Character only a few Spells to improve their chances in the Colosseum, but this isn't really necessary.

Since it's the one action you can be sure your Character will take from time to time, it's effective to center your Colosseum strategy on the Fight Command. Relics like the Genji Glove and Offering that enhance basic attacks can help you deal damage quickly and reliably. Using a Weapon imbued with an Element the Monster is weak against is also helpful, provided you're not giving up too much Bat.Pwr. Weapons that cast Spells or inflict Statuses that would be effective are also good choices, though note that the Offering will prevent many of these effects. Some Monsters have gimmicks that need to be overcome. For instance, Cactrots have high evasion and impenetrable Defense, but only 3 HP. A Weapon that can't miss and ignores Defense, such as the Dice or the Atma Weapon combined with a Sniper Sight, will make short work of them.

Wager Chains

The Colosseum Bets list contains every individual wager and prize, but sometimes you'll need to make multiple wagers to get the item you want. For instance, if you're looking for a Rename Card, you'll see that you can bet either an Elixir or a Merit Award to win one. However, if you go to the Rename Card page, you'll see that there are in fact eight different Items you can wager that will, if the prize is repeatedly re-wagered, yield a Rename Card. Furthermore, it reveals that the Rename Card itself can be wagered to win Marvel Shoes but those in turn can yield a Tintinabar or Exp. Egg. Items that can be wagered to win a given prize are listed in increasingly green table rows, while the eventual prizes you can win are listed in red. Use this table to determine how to earn certain Items, and what any Items you no longer need can be turned into.

So what do I wager?

There are 105 different Items you can wager at the Colosseum, though not all of these are useful. A number of Items can be wagered to win back the same Item, for instance. Few of the items you can wager can be purchased with GP, though some of the exceptions are worth noting. The three different Elemental swords can all be wagered to win the unique Ogre Nix, for example. This can be turned into a Soul Sabre, which itself can be wagered for another weapon you can buy, the Falchion. Falchions or Crystal Mails can be turned into as many Flame Shlds or Ice Shlds as you want. You can also upgrade Ninja Stars into Tack Stars one at a time. Perhaps most intriguing is wagering a Fenix Down to win Magicite.

Of course, it's easy to talk about turning Item X into Item Y, but you'll need to fight different Monsters at each step. It's not always easy to win these fights, and you may have to wait until you've recruited certain Characters or found specific Armor, Weapons, or Relics to have a fighting chance.

Unique Items

There are a number of Items that can only be obtained through the Colosseum, often with strange effects. Perhaps the best of these are the Marvel Shoes, which require you to wager a Rename Card (simple enough to obtain by wagering an Elixir and defeating a Cactrot) and defeat a Doom Drgn (which is quite a bit harder). If you can manage that, you'll get a Relic that combines the effects of the Cure Ring, RunningShoes, and Pod Bracelet into one.

Another powerful Colosseum-only Relic is the Merit Award, which allows the user to equip almost any Weapon or Armor. There are several wager chains that lead to a Merit Award, most of which begin with the various types of Imp equipment. This also yields the Cat Hood, which is useful if you're looking to make a lot of GP quickly.

Upgrades

Perhaps the most basic use of the Colosseum is to wager an Item and win an improved version of that Item. The classic example is the Ragnarok, an incredibly powerful and unique sword that can be wagered to win the even more powerful Illumina. A lesser version of this is the Aura, which can be won by wagering the Murasame. The Aura can then be used to win the Strato. Sometimes two Items can be traded back and forth, allowing you to double up on one of them. For instance, the Aura Lance and Sky Render can be wagered for one another.

You can use the Colosseum to try to break the game wide open, to get fun items you might not otherwise see, or just to recruit Shadow and never return. It's up to you.