CT: Interesting Strategies/Parties Against Lavos
I'm new at this message board, so I don't know if this has been done before or not, but I thought it'd be cool to see various strategies/parties against Lavos in Chrono Trigger that may be interesting or particularly creative.
Here are two that I've thought of:
The "Healing is for Wusses" Strategy
Lucca, Frog, Ayla
Concept:
This team is all about hitting Lavos hard and fast. When Frog and Ayla's HP are low, rather than waste turns healing HP, Lucca + Frog's Frog Flare and Ayla's Dino Tail do some of the most devastating damage in the game, far surpassing any other double and single techs. I would even go as far as to say that Frog Flare can surpass triple techs under the right conditions. While this may leave you vulnerable at times (especially if you run out of MP or if Lavos manages to break your protect status seal), the idea is to kill Lavos so fast that it doesn't become a problem.
Basic Strategy:
Begin with Lucca casting Flare, Frog casting Water 2, and Ayla using Triple Kick. If Lucca's HP becomes critical, heal her. Do NOT heal Frog or Ayla, however. Use a revive w/o any other healing on Frog/Ayla if either of them dies. The lower your party's level, the more revives you'll need. (I've used this party with everyone at lvl 80 and easily killed Lavos w/o healing or reviving anyone. Even Lucca.)
Because Frog's magic is so weak (unless you've been pumping him with magic tabs), at about 70% HP, Frog Squash already does more damage than Water 2. At this point, Frog + Lucca should start casting Frog Flare instead.
Ayla's Dino Tail does not surpass Triple Kick in damage until her HP is really low… like in the low 200s. However, since Triple Kick already does hurt a lot in the first place, that doesn't matter too much. Dino Tail is also useful for killing off the left bit while simultaneously damaging the middle and right bit even when Ayla has moderately high HP. This always helps, since the left + right bit counterattack is deadly, regardless of your HP.
Pros:
-Potentially one of the fastest ways to kill Lavos
-One of the rare instances where Frog Flare has the potential to be the strongest attack in the game (not counting Ayla's Bronze Fist critical hits)
Cons:
-Constant low HP in 2 party members leaves you pretty vulnerable if Lavos manages to unleash a strong attack.
-At later levels, this strategy seems too easy.
Special Notes:
**this strategy assumes everyone has a Prism Helm and that both Lucca and Ayla have Prism Dresses. If they don't, this will be much harder**
**everyone must have a gold stud equipped. If you waste too many turns using ethers, etc, you will be vulnerable when your HP is low**
If Ayla has the Bronze Fist, equip her with the Hit Ring instead (or maybe Rage Band if you like) and just use her regular attack since it has a pretty good chance of doing 9999. Way better than any tech. If you really want to hit multiple targets, use Dino Tail when her HP is somewhat low, but stay away from Triple Kick since it is both an MP killer (no gold stud remember?) and quite inferior to the damage of her regular attack critical hits.
I recommend being at least lvl 60 before attempting this since it relies on characters staying alive at low HP for maximum periods of time. It's not impossible at lower levels, but it can be more frustrating. And you'll be using more revives, which somewhat contradicts the spirit of this strategy.
The "Who Needs Offense?" Party
Marle, Frog, Robo
Concept:
With the character with no ultimate offensive tech, the character whose ultimate offensive tech is only effective at low HP levels, and the character who has the weakest ultimate offensive tech out of the remaining characters all in one party, this party is pretty much the opposite of the previous party. No particularly useful offensive double techs and 1 triple tech that requires a rock (admittedly, the triple tech can be quite powerful though). So how does this become an effective party? Aside from bragging rights for using the party with the least overall firepower, every single character has a healing tech or two! What's even better is that there are two single healing techs that target all allies AND two double techs that fully restore the HP of all allies. Basically, that means it's impossible to die unless you're either 1. too lazy to heal, 2. seriously underleveled, or 3. absolutely terrible at playing Chrono Trigger.
Basic Strategy:
1. Haste everyone. Then: Marle + Frog - Glacier, Robo - Shock. Only stop to heal when needed. Make sure everyone has gold studs. If Frog's HP is low, switch to Marle - Ice 2, Frog - Frog Squash for a while before healing Frog again.
Or
2. Haste everyone. Then keep spamming Grand Dream. Only stop to heal when needed. Equip the Gold Rock on Robo, since he only uses 3 MP for Grand Dream.
Pros:
-Essentially invincible, due to the overkill of healing techs available
-It is possible to kill Lavos even at relatively low levels, also due to the healing techs
-Bragging rights for killing Lavos with the most inefficient techs
Cons:
-Unless your characters are highly leveled, this is going to be a long battle. I guess Haste makes it go faster though.
-Not quite as exciting as watching your characters do massive damage like the previous party
