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Final Fantasy VIII

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Ultimecia's Castle - Sphinxaur and Sphinxara

By
Nathan Garvin

From the entrance to the castle, head up some stairs to find a brightly-colored quadruped - the aforementioned Sphinxaur. Well, this wasn’t hard at all! If you run into the beast, you’ll start a fight. Before that, make sure your junctions are in order - ensure you’re immune (or at least heavily resistant) to blizzard, fire and thunder, and adjust your Status Defenses so you’re immune to Sleep, Slow and Zombie.

Sphinxaur
Lv: 1-50
HP: 10,000
Weaknesses: Holy (200% damage)
Resistances:
Status Resistances: Immune to most status effects; Regen 30% – Slow 30% – The End 0%
EXP:
AP:
Draw (Lv1-19): Blizzard, Fire, Thunder, Cure
Draw (Lv20-29): Blizzara, Fira, Thundara, Cura
Draw (Lv30+): Blizzaga, Firaga, Thundaga, Curaga
Mug: Elixir
Drop:
Sphinxara
Lv: 1-50
HP: 10,000
Weaknesses: Holy (200% damage)
Resistances:
Status Resistances: Immune to most status effects; Regen 30% – Slow 30% – The End 0%
EXP:
AP: 30
Draw (Lv1-19): Blizzard, Fire, Thunder, Cure
Draw (Lv20-29): Blizzara, Fira, Thundara, Cura
Draw (Lv30+): Blizzaga, Firaga, Thundaga, Curaga
Mug: Elixir
Drop: Megalixir x1-2

You’ll start out this fight engaged against Sphinxaur, who is honestly so trivial of a threat it’s a wonder why it even exists. Oh right, to give you a weak foe to smack around so you can unlock a power. Generous of Ultimecia. While this critter can range between levels 1-50, its HP remain 10,000 throughout.

(1 of 2) Sphinxaur will only cast elemental spells at you, which are easily absorbed

Sphinxaur will only cast elemental spells at you, which are easily absorbed (left), Cut Sphinxaur down to move onto the Sphinxara phase of the fight. (right)

As it levels, its spell stocks (and incidentally the spells it casts at you) will increase in potency, as will its stats, but none of them rise high enough to become a threat. Since you probably can’t draw spells yet, you don’t need to worry much about its spells (it only has the three basic elemental spells at various tiers), and since you can’t use Mug, there’s no point in fretting about the Elixir you could otherwise steal.

In fact, given your limitations for this fight, you’ve got little recourse but to simply attack it. 10,000 HP to a sufficiently leveled party should only last it a few hits, at most, and you can speed this up if you junction Holy magic to your Elemental Attack, but it’s by no means necessary.

(1 of 4) Unlike Sphinxaur, Sphinxara prefers debuffs, especially Doom.

Defeat Sphinxaur and it’ll be replaced by Sphinxara, who will quickly use its “Magic Summon” ability to summon allies. It’ll only summon one ally at a time, and it will summon, in order, a Jelleye, a Forbidden and a Tri-Face. Killing these monsters won’t earn you any XP, but you will get their item and AP drops. Aside from that, Spinxaur is find of casting Doom, but may also throw in the odd Sleep, Slow or Zombie. Simply cut it down - and its summons, if you care to - and you’ll score a Megalixir after the fight.

Once the battle is over you’ll get to pick a seal to remove, hence freeing up one of your powers. What you should choose depends on how diligent you’ve been about acquiring GFs. Many GFs are missable, often being held by boss monsters. The good news is, if you defeated those bosses without drawing their GFs, you can still get them from Ultimecia’s guardians. This will be your last chance to acquire these GFs, and the next target monster has the Siren GF. If you need her, unseal the “Draw” ability. If you already have the Siren GF, “Magic” is probably your best bet. “Item” is good, too, as is “Limit Break”, but if you can get “Magic” and “Limit Break” unlocked it’ll open up the Aura + limit break option again, which is a fine goal to work towards.

Exit the mansion and save your game if you wish, and replenish your party if necessary. When you’re good to go again, it’s time to move onto the next boss - Tri-Point.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Square Enix
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS1, PS4, Switch, XB One
  • Genre
    RPG
  • Guide Release
    15 March 2019
  • Last Updated
    4 June 2022
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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Follow the exploits of Squall, a resident of Balamb Garden and SeeD aspirant whose first contract as a professional mercenary expands into a fight to save the world from an evil sorceress.

This guide will cover the main quest-line chronologically, giving advice on leveling (and how to avoid it), where to find the best spells, how to acquire all GFs and defeat all bosses. In addition the guide will cover all side quests and will also include in-depth mini-guides for Chocobo World and Triple Triad. By following this guide you can aspire to the following:

  • Complete walkthrough of the main questline.
  • All side quests and optional content.
  • How to defeat both of the game’s superbosses.
  • Information on how to acquire each GF and a discussion of their abilities, including where to assign them.
  • Information on Triple Triad, including the location of every card in the game and how to best use them.
  • Low-level run information.
  • Information on min-maxing stats.
  • A mini-guide for Chocobo World.
  • Information on all characters, including stats and how to acquire all their weapons and limits.
  • Triple Triad guide.

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