Summary

  • Newcomers beware: a Behemoth is no regular foe. Prepare a sound strategy or risk losing half your party.
  • Tougher Behemoth variants in some games are endgame challenges, requiring players to adapt to strong physical and magical attacks.
  • To defeat Behemoths, players must use strongest attacks and heal regularly, or risk being wiped out by powerful abilities.

The Behemoth is one of the most iconic Final Fantasy enemies of all time. The sheer weight of an encounter against this foe is hard to put into words. Any newcomer to this series who treats a Behemoth like a regular enemy will be in for a rude awakening when they underestimate the might of this fearsome foe only to bite the dust after a single cast of Meteor. More often than not, a sound strategy is required for players to beat this foe without losing half their party in the process.

The worst part is that some Final Fantasy games go above and beyond to ensure that a battle against a Behemoth is as challenging as can be, introducing tougher variants of this foe that serve as endgame challenges. Players who thought that the base variant of the Behemoth was hard will sing a different tune once they try to take on the souped-up versions of this beast. These iterations take no prisoners, and will use a combination of strong physical and magical attacks to show the player who's boss.

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5 BehemoKing

The Meteor Counter Can Be Nulled With Status Effects

BehemoKing in Final Fantasy 5
Final Fantasy 5
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JRPG
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Released
December 6, 1992
Developer(s)
Square Enix
OpenCritic Rating
Mighty
Genre(s)
JRPG

Final Fantasy 5's expansive job system means that players can invest in the right skills to turn their party into DPS machines that can take out the toughest foes without breaking a sweat. So, it says something that players who encounter a King Behemoth in the deepest recesses of the Interdimensional Rift will be in for a rough time. This foe counters every magical attack with a cast of Meteor, which can obliterate a party in no time if players aren't smart about fighting this foe.

Thankfully, unlike other tough Behemoths present across the Final Fantasy series, the BehemoKing (as it was lovingly called in the original release) can be inflicted with Berserk to prevent these counters from rocking the party. However, without the knowledge of how to cheese this encounter, players had to be wary of casting magic and resort to physical attacks instead to defeat this foe. This would protract a battle where the BehemoKing could land several tough physical attacks and reduce a party member's HP to nothing.

4 Great Behemoth

The Strongest Attacks Are Mandatory To Defeat This Boss

Great Behemoth in Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 6
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Released
October 11, 1994
Developer(s)
Square Enix, Square
Genre(s)
RPG

Kefka's Tower is a dungeon that players can visit any time after they get the Falcon. However, players are advised to spend their time exploring the World of Ruin to gather their party members and gain levels before they decide to explore the final dungeon of Final Fantasy 6. This will become clear from the moment players explore the outer regions of this tower, only to encounter several tough foes, including the fearsome Great Behemoth.

This powerful beast spares no one with its litany of powerful abilities. Haymaker hits for a ton of physical damage, while the dreaded Meteor can shave off a substantial portion of the party's health bar in one fell swoop. To make things worse, the Great Behemoth has no elemental weaknesses and boasts extremely high HP, even for an endgame foe. This means that players must heal at regular intervals and throw their strongest attacks at this foe to win at all costs.

3 King Behemoth

The Strongest, Rarest Monster Encountered In The Ancients' Maze

King Behemoth in Final Fantasy 3
Final Fantasy III
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Released
April 27, 1990
Developer(s)
Square Enix, Tose
Platform(s)
Nintendo DS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Wii U
Genre(s)
Adventure
OpenCritic Rating
Weak

The Ancients' Maze is one of the last dungeons in Final Fantasy 3 that players will explore, so one should expect high-level enemies to populate this area. However, despite all their preparations, the encounter against a King Behemoth will strike fear in their hearts. It's easily the most powerful foe in this area, forcing players to use their toughest attacks and heal whenever this foe lowers a party member's health to critical levels.

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However, the worst part about the King Behemoth is its tendency to cast Meteor after its health is substantially reduced. If players languish in this encounter for too long, then a few casts of Meteor are all it takes to wipe out the entire party. This makes it important to ramp up the damage after more than half of its health is depleted. This way, players don't fall prey to this powerful magical attack just when the King Behemoth is about to be down for the count.

2 Behemoth King

Its Dying Attack Can End A Player's Run

Behemoth King in Final Fantasy 10
Final Fantasy 10
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JRPG
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Released
December 17, 2001
Developer(s)
Square Enix
Platform(s)
PS2
Genre(s)
JRPG

The Behemoth King encountered inside Sin is one of the toughest enemies in the game. It features a dynamic moveset where the initial phase of the encounter involves players dealing with high-damage physical attacks and the occasional Thundara. This may seem manageable, but \after 2/3rds of this enemy's health bar is depleted, his moveset becomes trickier.

Now, instead of his regular attacks, the Behemoth King will cycle between Mighty Guard, Flare, and Tail. This makes for a tricky encounter that players can manage by depleting this monster's health quickly, but there's a catch. Before the Behemoth King dies, it bids farewell with a cast of Meteor so deadly that a fatigued party can be downed in a single cast. Protect and the Defend command is a necessity to weather this storm and come out victorious against the strongest variant of the Behemoth in Final Fantasy 10.

1 Dark Behemoth

Dark Behemoth in Final Fantasy 2
Final Fantasy II
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JRPG
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Released
December 17, 1988
Developer(s)
Square
Genre(s)
JRPG

Final Fantasy 2 has received a verbal bashing from fans for its obtuse leveling system. However, the issues plaguing this game's progression are prevalent in the early going, and players who give this game a chance will be able to mold a party in their image that can tackle most of the game's challenging encounters. However, the updated re-release of this game features a Soul of Rebirth sidequest that houses some of the toughest content this title has to offer.

One of its many additions is the Dark Behemoth, a variant of this legendary enemy so powerful that its physical attacks can down most party members in a flash. Support magic like Protect and Blink is downright mandatory to weather this enemy's hard-hitting physical blows. It's a testament to this enemy's strength that its weak magic defense and lack of any counterattacks don't take away from its status as one of the toughest Behemoth-type enemies in Final Fantasy history.

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Developer(s)
Square Enix
Creation Year
1987
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Publisher(s)
Square Enix