Final Fantasy 12 - Elder Wyrm, Stilshrine of Miriam, and Vinuskar, Mateus, and Judge Bergan boss fights
A full companion guide to the second half of Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age's fifth act.
This section of our Final Fantasy 12 walkthrough deals with the second half of the game's fifth act, including the Elder Wyrm, Stilshrine of Miriam, and Vinuskar, Mateus, and Judge Bergan boss fights.
If you're looking for more guides and tips meanwhile, then head to our Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age guide and walkthrough hub, where you'll also find this walkthrough's contents for all the other sections, too.
Elder Wyrm boss fight, Paramina Rift and Mt Bur-Omisace
Golmore Jungle
It's extremely helpful to have Rose Corsages on your magic users for the next fight, so if you've not got any then take a quick detour to do some shopping. When you're prepared cast as many buffs as you have, use the save crystal to get your MP back, then step into the fray.
Boss fight: Elder Wyrm
The biggest peril in this fight comes from status effects - he'll randomly dish them out during the fight, and will regularly use his Sporefall party-piece which showers your party with debilitating debuffs so use magic or items to counter them when possible.
When the fight starts there will also be a couple of Treants in the room, but both they and the Wyrm are weak to wind, so a few Aeros will get rid of the lesser enemies and contribute to the overall victory. Once they're gone there are no real surprises to the fight so just keep plugging away at the Wyrm, and whenever he starts readying Sporefall try and put some distance between him and your party - you may not escape entirely, but it can mitigate the fallout.
(Note that this fight is technically optional - by leaving the jungle through the southern exit you can take a long detour to your next destination. It's quite a trek and the enemies you face along the way aren't exactly a pushover, but it's good to have options.)
Golmore Jungle
Keep heading east - the north and south paths will both take you to Paramina Rift, so pick whichever takes your fancy and say goodbye to the jungle!
Paramina Rift and Mt Bur-Omisace
Save, then head through the exit to the north and keep on the north side of the next two areas to reach Mt Bur-Omisace. Larsa will be leaving the party soon, so before visiting the Hall of Light at the north of the area we'd recommend taking this opportunity to grind a bit more, take on a couple of Marks, and generally level up while you've got a party of four.
When you're ready, head to the far end of Mt Bur-Omisace and enter the Hall of Light.
After the long cutscene you'll be back down to three party members, so it's worth having a quick run around and taking on a few lower level enemies somewhere to get accustomed to your leaner squad. We'd also recommend buying Ice Shields and Nishijin Belts for anyone who can use them as they're handy in an upcoming boss fight.
Once you're comfortable, leave Mt Bur-Omisace and head directly south - be on the lookout for Ice Elementals while you're in the Rift; using magic anywhere near them will aggro them, and things can go very poorly. In the next area veer over to the south east into a small area with a save crystal. Exit the other end and keep going south until you reach the Stilshrine of Miriam.
Stilshrine of Miriam
Stilshrine of Miriam
It's surprisingly tranquil here! Make your way to the orange save crystal at the far end of the area and save - we'd recommend being around level 28-30 for what's coming up, so teleport elsewhere and grind a bit if you need.
Equip one of your characters with the Dawn Shard; their MP will drop to zero, so it's advisable to give it to a secondary character rather than one of your main party. The Way Stone's currently out of order, so head to the middle of the area and use the Dawn Shard-equipped character to interact with the pedestal - getting anyone else to use it will spawn a bunch of zombies - and you'll be teleported to a new area.
As soon as you arrive a Miriam Guardian will pounce on you, so get ready to swap party members quickly.
The next area has three Dragon Aevises lying in wait for you - they're weak to ice so throw in a few Blizzaras as you approach. They can be quite tough so running is perfectly acceptable, but there are a couple of Miriam Facers at the far end that'll try and get involved so tread carefully.
Once you reach the Walk of Torn Illusion use your Dawn Shard carrying party member to touch the pedestal, then retrace your steps. The stone heads on either side of the room have now formed stairs leading down either side of the room, so head to the lower level.
The "life crystal" here is a mimic - interact with it then beat it down until it turns into an actual save crystal, then make use of it before heading down the central stairs to the next room.
At the junction turn left and deal with the two Blood Gigas and the Darkmare at the far end, then examine the Sword of Judgement (the big stone thing), then double back. (There's a secret staircase on the wall to your left just at the top of the steps, so take a detour up there to find either a Shell Shield or some Dark Matter; there's a trap immediately after the loading zone on the stairs, so if you have Float cast it on everyone before heading up.)
Exit through the door in the north of the Ward of the Sword King, and head through until you find a Way Stone - use it to teleport back to the opening area, and head through the now open door to the west.
This area is full of Balloons, but they're not as much fun as the ones you had as a kid and have a tendency to explode when their health is low so you need to either avoid them or take them out quickly. There are three passages here; the central and left hand ones form a loop that holds little of interest, so take the path to the right until you find a statue of a Stone Brave. Deal with the zombies, ghouls, and Facers, then rotate the statue counter clockwise once so it's facing east.
Head down the steps and into the Walk of Reason. Make your way through the next room, then follow the passage round and up the steps until you find another statue; this one needs to be rotated 180 degrees to face north. From here take the right hand path and through the opening area - there's a boss fight coming up so you may want to quickly pop outside and use the save crystal to get back to full strength before proceeding through the door to the east.
For more help with? Final Fantasy 12? Our Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age guide, walkthrough, Switch and Xbox differences gives an overview of the game to get you started. Elsewhere, there's our hidden Espers strategy and locations and Elite Hunts and Marks pages, how to get the best Zodiac Jobs for each character, advice on farming LP from Jellies and even how to get the Zodiac Spear.
Vinuskar, Mateus, and Judge Bergan boss fights
Boss fight: Vinuskar
This boss isn't anywhere near as tough as he looks. He has a unique magnetic field that will slow anyone equipped with heavy armour down a little, and he will cast Break, but if you've got light armour and cast Haste on your party you can take him down in a matter of seconds.
Once he's defeated head through the door on the far side. There's an urn here with the map of the area (a little late to be of any real help, but it's better than nothing), and the final statue - rotate it 180 degrees so it faces west - if the message “The Colossus has undergone some change” doesn't appear then one of the statues isn't facing in the right direction, so look on your map and they should all be facing the middle.
Return to the opening area and the giant statue will move and open a new path. There's yet another boss fight down there, so once again you may want to use the crystal outside before moving on.
Boss fight: Mateus
This battle will go a bit more smoothly by equipping Ice Shields and Nishijin Belts if you have them.
Mateus starts proceedings by casting Reflect on himself, so do not use magic attacks on him. His minions need to be taken out first as they'll throw Sleep spells around and generally get in your way; they're weak to Thunder but there's a risk that you'll hit one close to Mateus and suffer some splashback so keep an eye on where they are in relation to him. Melee attacks with non-elemental weapons also work, albeit more slowly.
Once you're focussing just on Mateus, cast Shell on your party members and stick to physical attacks. When his HP hits 50% he'll break out his Chain Magic attack but Ice Shields and Shell will mitigate most of the damage, and the only major threat is that his Blizzaja spell can occasionally inflict Sap.
When he's defeated head back outside and return to Mt Bur-Omisace and make your way back to the temple at the far end for the final boss fight in Act V.
Boss fight: Judge Bergan
When the fight starts there'll be three regular judges behind you and Judge Bergan will be a fair distance away, so you can approach the fight in one of two ways:
- Quickly kill the three nearest targets while the Big Bad makes his way towards you and then focus your efforts on him. He will attempt to blind you, and at 50% HP he'll use Battle Cry which may allow him to get a long chain of hits in on a single party member, so try and return the blinding favour to him to avoid him taking out a party member - the success rate for casting Blind on him seems to be about 25% so cast as many as you can.
- If you're particularly adept at Quickening Chains, as soon as the battle starts direct one at Bergan and you may be able to finish him off and end the battle before it's begun.
We're off to Nalbina now! Return to Rabanastre, head for the Aerodrome, and talk to the travel agent on the left to buy yourself a flight.
When you're all set, next up is part 8 of our Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age walkthrough: Mosphoran Highwaste, The Salikawood, Tchita Uplands, Sochen Cave Palace and the Alraune King, Topstalk, and Mandragora Prince boss fights.