Final Fantasy 5 Walkthrough With Dagger

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: DUAL-WEILD

CLASS: NINJA

LEVEL: 5

AP NEEDED: 450


My Thoughts:
This lets any class equipped with it to be able to use a weapon in both hands. It does not work on Bows or Harps. Want to be able to use both the Excalibur and the Masamune as the same character? This is the ability for you. It is necessary for the game's most powerful normal attack by combining the two weapons this gives you access to, and Rapid Fire, to make the same character attack 8 times. For those who played FF6 this is the ability set that inspired the infamous "Offering + Genji Glove" tactic. Make sure that you get this for every fighter you have, and honestly I would get it for everyone whether you are out to master every class or not. Definitely get it for Bartz and any backup attacker you have though.

 

[Dagger Dias]

JOB MASTERING CHECKPOINT

KNIGHT: ****MASTERED****

MONK: ****MASTERED****

THIEF: ****MASTERED****

WHITE MAGE: ****MASTERED****

BLACK MAGE: ****MASTERED****

BLUE MAGE: ****MASTERED****

BERSERKER: ****MASTERED****

MYSTIC KNIGHT: ****MASTERED****

TIME MAGE: ****MASTERED****

SUMMONER: ****MASTERED****

RED MAGE: ****MASTERED****

NINJA: ****MASTERED****

BEASTMASTER: ****MASTERED****

GEOMANCER: ****MASTERED****

RANGER: ****MASTERED****

BARD: ****MASTERED****

DRAGOON: Level 2

SAMURAI: Level 4

CHEMIST: Level 4

DANCER: Level 2


Other Thoughts:
That just leaves the four Earth Crystal jobs, out of the original listing of character classes. You could get them out of the way now if you wanted, or head to the fourth Tablet site. Odds are you'd rather continue with the quest but there's no reason why you can't just finish those last four at this time. It doesn't make that much of a difference. I'm going to the fourth Tablet site first, then mastering those remaining four. Almost done!

 

[Dagger Dias]

EASTERLY FALLS
My Level: 44 (Bartz), 43 (Faris and Krile), 42 (Lenna)

To get to Easterly Falls you need to fly to the northwest corner of the world map and then turn the airship into a submarine. Go south to the underwater caven and at the exit of that small cavern you find the world map in a desert by the waterfall. Approach the waterfall to find more Gargoyles. At least this is the last time you will have to fight these guys. You know the drill by now, just Zeninage them. If not, here is yet another reminder on how to fight them.


BATTLE: Gargoyle (x2)

These guys are annoying. If you defeat one but not the other their ally revives them. They are weak against Thunder so Summoning Ramuh works if you do not have the gil to spare for relying on Zeninage.


Now give both Bartz and Faris Time Magic then have the others Mimic them in battle to take care of most of the enemies here.

From the entrance you will find a waterfall puzzle. It is a bit hard to see the steps since they have small waterfalls over them that look similar to the small waterfalls with nothing behind them. You can see if you look closely enough where the stairs are. Take one of the small waterfalls down a floor. Now climb up the stairs to your left. There's a chest there. You need to go down a set of stairs left of you, which you can by going south of the small waterfall then climb up the stairs next to that and get the Ether from the chest. Take the small waterfall south of the Ether chest down and go up the stairs to your right to another chest with a Turtle Shell. This next part is a little tricky. There is another staircase to the right of the one that led to the Turtle Shell but it appears to be out of reach. Luckily, it's not. You can move behind the rock formation and climb the staircase. Don't forget the Air Knife in the chest to your right on the way out of this waterfall puzzle room. You can see the exit of the room so move on to the next area.

This room has two paths. Both lead down into the same area just different parts of the room. Take the left path down the stairs and down a waterfall. There is a chest left of here that you can get a Protect Ring from but you will have to be fast. The waterfall blocking it can be temporarily stopped with a skull switch, after a brief moment the waterfall starts its current again! You may end up pushed off the platform by the waterfall a couple of times. Try again if this happens. Take the path that leads to the right. You will see a chest and it has a Goliath Tonic. There is also a hidden path in the wall south of you that leads to a chest with a Rune Blade. Now go back to the left side of the room and go down the staircase in the lower left corner.

Follow the path in the next area to a fork in the road. Go right to find a chest and it has a Phoenix Down. Go left in the fork and then left again at the next fork to get a Reflect Ring from a chest. Now go right from the second fork to find a stairway leading down to a save point. Rest and save here since surely your MP are getting low if you've been casting Meteor to quickly end the random encounters in this cave. The next room has multiple exits. First go get the chest in the lower left corner which has 12000 gil. Now go north, watch out for the hole on the floor, and then go up the stairs to reach another chest that has an Enhancer Blade. Go back to the previous area and go up the stairs in the central wall to find a chest with an Artemis Bow. This is somehow better than the bow from the set of legendary weapons. Odd. I gave it to Lenna since she has Equip Bows at the moment.



TONBERRY! (NOT Dinglberry)

One of the series' more famous monsters made its very first appearance here. That is, if you are going chronologically. For most people the first encounter would have been in FF6 where they initially got mistranslated as Pugs instead of Tonberries. The playstation release of FF5 made a translation error on these enemies as well calling them Dinglberry. It's worthy of noting that this was the first place ever in the series that Tonberries could be encountered. That, and they are pretty dangerous. If you encounter one he starts moving closer toward the party until he eventually gets close enough to use the Cleaver attack which is very powerful.

 

[Dagger Dias]

EASTERLY FALLS (CONTINUED)
My Level: 44 (Bartz), 43 (Faris and Krile), 42 (Lenna)


Now either jump down the hole or go down the stairs south of you. Down here you find a chest surrounded by spikes to your left. Hit the skull switch to make the spikes go away though holes form where they were. Open the chest to get a Titan's Axe! There is another chest north of this, spikes come up if you try to approach it from the right. Open it from its south side to get an Aegis Shield. Another chest to the right of this has a Fuma Shuriken. You need to open it from the south as well otherwise spikes come up. Guess what the skull switch to the right of this chest does? It removes the spikes if they came up. Now go over to the holes by the chest in the lower left corner and jump down one. You're at the Tablet! Before approaching it quickly put a Coral Ring on all four characters. Make the abilities be White Magic, Black Magic, and a third of your choosing.



THE RED GUY

You might remember this guy. He was the red monster from Exdeath's group of minions of the Void. He doesn't even have an official name due to what is about to happen. All he is known for is being part of that group of monsters Exdeath freed from the void.... and getting killed by Leviathan. The Red Guy appears and tries to fight you over the Tablet but he is killed by Leviathan before the battle even starts. Always thought this was silly. He could have been a cool boss, but I suppose we will never know. Leviathan killing this guy does make Leviathan himself more intimidating of a boss though part of me always wondered what kind of enemy "The Red Guy" would have been. Leviathan could have had a sidequest where you return here for a summon pact battle. Oh well. Poor Red Guy. Another odd note is you don't even HAVE to fight Leviathan. Just go south and ride the waterfall down to the exit after he kills The Red Guy. You don't want to miss out on a cool summon, now do you? Let's battle Leviathan next! Then ride the waterfall to the worldmap outside.

 

[Dagger Dias]

BOSS BATTLE: Leviathan

This battle can be hard if you are not prepared. Equipping a Coral Ring on everyone makes them absorb his famous Tidal Wave attack. If you do not have Coral Rings then have one or two characters (preferably Bartz and Faris) devoted to healing with Curaga each round while the others (preferably Krile and Lenna due to higher magic stats) unleashing Thungaga until you win. Seems simple enough. If you have the Coral Rings equipped it's easy. I had Bartz healing while Lenna, Faris, and Krile all were all casting Thundaga. Mimes can have a lot of fun in this fight. Have whoever goes first cast Thundaga then just keep selecting Mimic for the rest of the fight to end it quickly without using up a lot of Magic Points. You could win in a matter of moments this way, but consider having at least one person healing just in case.
​

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: EQUIP RIBBONS

CLASS: DANCER

LEVEL: 3

AP NEEDED: 325


My Thoughts:
This lets any class using the ability be able to equip the Ribbon accessory as well as Dancer exclusive equipment such as the Man Eater, Red Slippers, and Rainbow Dress. The only one of these items I ever use is the Ribbon. The good thing about the Ribbons is that Ribbons prevent many negative status effects such as instant death, petrification, toad, poison, darkness, old, and silence. You may want it for your Mimes, in particular your healer(s) so that they can cast freely without fear of negative status effects.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: EQUIP LANCES

CLASS: DRAGOON

LEVEL: 3

AP NEEDED: 400


My Thoughts:
Exactly what it sounds like. This lets any class be able to battle using Lances and Spears. Whether you want it or not depends on if you want your Mimes to be able to use spears at the end of the game. The Swords and Katanas tend to be more powerful than Spears, though I would get this at least for your main fighter and any backup fighter you may have.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: REVIVE

CLASS: CHEMIST

LEVEL: 5

AP NEEDED: 405


My Thoughts:
This works the same as casting the basic Life spell without using any MP. It would have been very helpful earlier on in the game, but by the time you get it you already have access to Arise which is a much better reviving spell than Life was. I've already made it clear how much I dislike this class. Don't waste your time unless you want to master everything. Outclassed does not even begin to describe how much better the advanced White Magic spells are than this ability.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: IAINUKI

CLASS: SAMURAI

LEVEL: 5

AP NEEDED: 540


My Thoughts:
This ability attempts to instantly defeat all enemy targets. For such a large amount of ability points needed to unlock it, this is a highly disappointing ability. Instant Death attempts suck in virtually all capacities in many Final Fantasy games, including this one. Not worth it whatsoever. If you are not trying to master everything then avoid this ability completely. It's not useful due to monster immunities to Instant Death attempts.

 

[Dagger Dias]

KUZA CASTLE
My Level: 45 (Bartz), 44 (everyone else)

If you have not figured it out yet, this is the last set of three weapons left in the seal room at the castle. Regardless of whether you followed my path on legendary weapon selection or not you will have access to all 12 now. So head up into the seal room and grab whichever three remain. For me it was Excalibur, the Rune Axe, and the Holy Spear. After that I start working on the three new classes (GBA and PC versions only). A couple of sidequests still remain regardless of if you are playing an older or newer version.


BAHAMUT SIDEQUEST
My Level: 47

You will need to fly on the Black Chocobo to the forest north of Carwen, it is near a desert. Walk up to North Mountain which is now surrounded by a desert. Go up to the summit of North Mountain just as you did in the first world. The monsters here are as weak as they were back then so the climb up will be really easy. Make sure you save when you get to the save point. Ok, make everyone be Mimes with White Magic and Rapid Fire equipped. If you have mastered Ninja then everyone will already battle with two weapons. Select Equip Swords/Katanas/Axes/Lances to give them decent weapons. Now go battle Bahamut for a summoning pact at the summit. The same spot where the dragon was in the first world.

 

[Dagger Dias]

BOSS BATTLE: Bahamut

By now if you have been following along you will be able to use a really powerful strategy due to all the classes you would have mastered. Having someone do Rapid Fire with two weapons equipped. If everyone has mastered Ranger and Ninja by now then using Rapid Fire followed by having the rest of the party Mimic whoever goes first will deal thousands of damage. Bahamut will use Mega Flare when he is low on Health and it does TONS of damage to you. Heal with Curaga when he does this, if you survived it. He can use Atomic Ray and Aqua Breath but Mega Flare is the only attack to truly be concerned about. If you don't have Ranger and Ninja mastered then you could still rely on powerful magic such as Holy, Flare, Meteor and Leviathan.
​

 

[Dagger Dias]

NEW CLASSES....! (GBA and PC only!!!!)

Once you have grabbed the last of the legendary weapons and try to leave, a scholar shows up at the entrance. He mentions an earthquake to the south and claims an underwater volcano may have been the cause. You've already been to the great trench, hmmm.... For those who do not know what this is, it is a hint about the new quest that got added to the game in the GBA version. It is in the PC version too. You can go get three new jobs now too! Fly south of the Mirage Village and go underwater. Approach the new trench that has appeared. Inside you can obtain three new job classes that did not exist until a decade ago in the GBA version. Oracle, Gladiator, and Cannoneer. A random old merchant shows up and talks about the classes. You cannot go inside the Sealed Temple just yet. That opens when you have defeated Exdeath.

There is also a fourth new class, Necromancer, but it is not available until the very end of the game. As in, not until after you defeat the new final boss.

 

[Dagger Dias]

CLASS SPOTLIGHT - Oracle

Stat Adjustments:

Strength -9
Agility -1
Stamina -4
Magic +36


Abilities:
Level 1: Condemn (25 points)
Level 2: Predict (50 points)
Level 3: ABP Up (150 points)
Level 4: Read Ahead (300 points)
​

My Thoughts:
This is the first of the four new classes that was first introduced in the GBA remake a decade ago. Oracle offers a couple of good things. The first being a big boost to the Magic stat for your Mimes/Freelancers if you master it. This is even higher than the Summoner boost, so if you are playing on the GBA or PC then you need to master this class for the Magic stat boost. Otherwise, the ABP Up ability may be tempting since it makes you get more ABP after a battle. Read Ahead helps prevent random encounters, so that may also interest some. I never really got much use out of the other abilities of this class. It's the third most useful out of the four new ones. Gladiator is much better and Necromancer, though not available until you complete the game, is also better overall.

 

[Dagger Dias]

CLASS SPOTLIGHT - Cannoneer

Stat Adjustments:

Strength +9
Agility +6
Stamina +6
Magic +4


Abilities:
Level 1: Open Fire (50 points)
Level 2: EXP Up (150 points)
Level 3: Combine (300 points)
​

My Thoughts:
At first glance this seems like the perfect class for Faris. Well, for her character anyway. It is as close as you will get to a Pirate class. In the PC version Faris gets a captain's cap like the others do, though in the GBA she did not oddly enough. This is the least useful of the four new classes. The only good ability it offers is EXP Up, so if you aren't out to master all classes and do not need the EXP boost then skip this one. A little disappointing since a pirate type of class sounds so much better in theory than this one ended up being. It's better than low tier jobs like Bard and Dancer at least.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I played FFV again on mobile and with the new improved translation I actually think Ex-Death is one of the best villains in the franchise. I'd put him in the top 3 behind Kefka and Vayne.

 

[Dagger Dias]

CLASS SPOTLIGHT - Gladiator

Stat Adjustments:

Strength +26
Agility +14
Stamina +3
Magic -14


Abilities:
Level 1: Lure (30 points)
Level 2: Finisher (70 points)
Level 3: Long Range (150 points)
Level 4: Bladeblitz (450 points)
​

My Thoughts:
Awesome class. This one is easily the best out of the four new classes. It is exactly what it sounds like. A warrior type which is perfect for Bartz or whoever your main fighter is. Bladeblitz can be fun for fighting against large enemy groups and Finisher is a really cool ability that showcases a special move for each hero's innate element. Gladiator quickly became one of my favorite classes in the whole game when I first tried it out a decade ago in the GBA remake. Definitely get it up to Finisher for everyone and get Bladeblitz for your main fighter. Gladiator also offers a great Strength stat boost if you still haven't mastered Monk.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I played FFV again on mobile and with the new improved translation I actually think Ex-Death is one of the best villains in the franchise. I'd put him in the top 3 behind Kefka and Vayne.

I personally found him to be rather boring in terms of character. Kefka did the whole "I want to destroy everything" thing a lot better. Neo Exdeath, as a boss fight, was a great final battle in the original version. Enuo, the new final boss, is great too. A real fun challenge alongside the two new optional super bosses in the Sealed Temple. Check the rest of this thread out for any secrets or tips you may have missed.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: CONDEMN

CLASS: ORACLE

LEVEL: 1

AP NEEDED: 25


My Thoughts:
This is a rather odd ability. It makes various effects happen without costing any Magic Points. I don't recommend it personally. You have access to better spells in the White Magic and Black/Time/Summon spellbooks, all of which you can Mimic to avoid major MP costs for more than one character. You need to get this first in order to get to ABP Up so we're getting it now.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: PREDICT

CLASS: ORACLE

LEVEL: 2

AP NEEDED: 50


My Thoughts:
Another odd one. It generates an attack spell based off the last digit in the caster's current Magic Points as well as the last digit of the target. Some of the spells found with this ability can be cool, but it's too difficult to get the results you may want. Stick to the traditional caster spellbooks. Much like Condemn, this is just on the way toward getting ABP Up. Almost there. A funny note about this is if you have someone use it but they get turned into a Zombie before it gets cast, a funny message is displayed when the ability is triggered.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: ABP UP

CLASS: ORACLE

LEVEL: 3

AP NEEDED: 150


My Thoughts:
A good ability to have if you find it overwhelming and/or time consuming to gain class levels. The good news is that this will make it significantly easier to learn abilities like Mimic or Dualcast. The bad news is it only works on the character equipped with it. So if you wanted to have everyone learn and master Mimic at the same time, then you better give all four ABP Up or else someone will fall behind. Still, this is the best ability from Oracle and it surely will appeal to many. It should have been made available earlier on in my opinion though anything is better than trying to get 999 ABP for Dualcast or Mime from scratch. There's a reason I had suggested to play as Red Mages for most of the game....

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: LURE

CLASS: GLADIATOR

LEVEL: 1

AP NEEDED: 30


My Thoughts:
The usefulness of this ability depends on what you are trying to do. It raises encounter rates. If you really want to fight more monsters, then put this on one of your characters. I never use it myself since the encounter rate is high enough when normal. It's the first ability of the Gladiator class so we'll get it anyhow when trying to get to the better abilities. This one is very easy to learn if you got ABP Up first and use that while learning Lure.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: OPEN FIRE

CLASS: CANNONEER

LEVEL: 1

AP NEEDED: 50


My Thoughts:
This is an ability that makes you use a long ranged attack with random results. The fact that it ignores whether you are in the back row or not makes it an interesting option for caster classes, if you are still using anything other than Mimes at this point. You have a 6/16 chance of inflicting Poison, a 5/16 chance of inflicting Darkness, a 4/16 chance of inflicting Confusion, and a 1/6 chance of instantly defeating the enemy when using this skill. It can be somewhat fun to play around with though it is outclassed by the time you get it. Access to it earlier on would have been really good. Oh well.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: FINISHER

CLASS: GLADIATOR

LEVEL: 2

AP NEEDED: 70


My Thoughts:
This is a really fun ability. It does have a degree of randomness to it which is the only downside to it. You will either miss and do nothing, or you might get a Critical Hit, or the best result of all which is the Elemental Attack. Each hero has their own special Elemental Finisher. Bartz has a green one for Wind, Lenna has a blue one for Water, Faris has a red one for Fire, and Krile has a yellow one for Earth. It depends on their innate element. Galuf of course does not have one, though I would guess that if obtained for him through cheat codes that his would be the same as Krile's for storyline reasons. The odds of getting the failure decrease as your Gladiator level goes up. The odds of getting the Elemental Attack or a critical hit increase as your Gladiator level goes up. Initially you have about a 1/3 chance of missing, a little more than 1/3 chance of a critical hit, and around 1/4 chance of getting the Elemental Attack. Upon mastering the class you have 1/4 chance of failure, 1/4 chance of a critical hit, and 1/2 chance of the Elemental Attack. It's really fun to have all four characters constantly using this skill. Lots of green/blue/yellow/red flashes on the screen as the Elemental Attacks show up. You just have to be willing to risk the failures occurring. If you master the class then the odds are low, but unfortunately they do still happen. Better abilities exist yes, however it's one you have to check out for yourself at least once due to the 4 unique special attacks of each character.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: EXP UP

CLASS: CANNONEER

LEVEL: 2

AP NEEDED: 150


My Thoughts:
This is exactly what it sounds like.... A boost to the EXP that you will win after a battle. It works just like ABP Up does. That means that you do want to have all four characters equipped with it if you do not want someone to fall behind. On the other side of that same coin, it is useful for getting Lenna caught back up to the other three if she is still behind from missing out on the Pyramid event. If you're not on a really high level at the end of the game, keep this ability on all four characters as you explore The Void to get some levels before the fight with Exdeath. You'll want to be on higher levels for the new Sealed Temple sidequest afterwards anyhow. It goes without saying, this is the Cannoneer's best ability.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ABILITY SPOTLIGHT: LONG RANGE

CLASS: GLADIATOR

LEVEL: 3

AP NEEDED: 150


My Thoughts:
Now you will be able to have someone fight from the back row without taking any penalties to the amount of damage a normal weapon attack does, if they are equipped with this ability. Another one that would have come in really handy earlier on. Still, worth getting for use with your Mimes if you want to offer them the protection of the back row and still do front row amounts of damage.