Pandaemonium
The final dungeon. Ten chests, five bosses, the Masamune behind a hidden wall, and the Emperor at the top. This chapter covers Pandaemonium for 10 chests and 12 new bestiary entries.
Pandaemonium
New Enemies
Death Riders (1290 HP, weak Fire) hit 8 times per turn at high attack; a group of 3-4 can wipe the party before you get a turn off. Mantis Devils (1290 HP) hit 8 times and mix in Fire 16 casts. Mythril Golems (2000 HP, weak Lightning) have very high physical defense and resist almost every other element, so Thunder is the answer. Iron Giant (3500 HP, weak Ice and Lightning) is the most dangerous random encounter in the entire game: 12 hits per turn at high attack, zero evasion (physicals always land). The Blood Sword ignores its high defense and makes it tractable.
1F. A single winding path along the outer edge. Don’t enter any of the side openings, just follow the path to the stairs at the end and continue to 2F.
2F. Go left and all the way down; when you can’t go further, walk left and take the first path up. The Ether chest is at the top. Loop back down, take the left route, and follow it around. When the path splits into two routes going up, take the right one and step on the purple telepad.
3F. Walk down and grab the Elixir, then push north of the teleporter and take a right. Down the stairs, left, down another set of stairs, then keep going right through the wall. Follow it south to the teleporter to 4F.
The Four Doors
The 4F telepad drops you into a room with four doors. Each leads to a miniboss + a piece of endgame gear. The recommended order is Door 1 → Door 2 → Door 4 → Door 3, because Door 1 hides the Masamune (the strongest sword in the game) and you want it equipped before the harder fights. Cast Warp to return to this room after each fight.
Door 1: Zombie Borghen
Far-left door. Follow the path until you see a choice between stairs and an entryway; take the right through the entryway. Right again through the next entry, then left and up the stairs. The final entry leads to the Genji Gloves chest, ambushed by Zombie Borghen.
After the fight, don’t Warp out yet; the Masamune is hidden in this same wing. Exit the Genji Gloves room and walk back down the stairs, but this time take the entryway to the right of the stairs. Loop through the two entryways, then on the next one walk through the right wall instead of going south. Continue right; at the bottom-right of that room is another hidden wall leading to the Masamune chest, the highest raw attack of any sword in FF2.
Equip Masamune on whoever has highest Sword proficiency, alongside Excalibur as the off-hand. Warp out and head back to the four-door room.
Door 2: Tiamat
Second door from the left. Follow the path and when you reach the wide steps, take a left through the wall and up to find the Genji Helm chest, ambushed by Tiamat.
Warp back to the four-door room.
Door 4: Beelzebub
Skip Door 3 for now and take the far-right door. Follow the path to the very top for the Genji Armor chest, ambushed by Beelzebub.
Warp out one more time.
Door 3: Astaroth
Third door from the left. Follow the path around to the stairs and go to the top of the small open area. Ignore the pathway going up; instead go to the top-left corner and walk through the wall gap. The Ribbon chest is directly in front of you, ambushed by Astaroth.
The Ribbon negates every status effect in the game; equip it on whoever gets targeted most by the Emperor’s Curse later. Astaroth is the hardest of the four miniboss fights; if you skipped the Blood Sword in Paul’s house, this fight is where you feel it.
From the Ribbon chest, walk left. Ignore the path going up and walk through another wall gap. Continue left, skip the narrow path down, and take the wider path down while hugging the right wall. When you see a wall on your left, walk through it to find the telepad to 5F.
The Final Climb
5F. Back in the four-door area, but the doors are sealed. Follow the singular path up and right to the next telepad.
7F. From the telepad, walk left until you hit a wall, then go up to find the Sage’s Wisdom. Go down and take the left path nearby, then up the stairs when they appear. Follow the singular path around the outer edge of the floor.
Iron Giant spawns here as a rare encounter (~1.6% per encounter on 5F, 7F, and 8F). The fight is brutal but the Blood Sword ignores its high defense entirely; if you haven’t logged it yet, pace this stretch until one shows up. At the end of the path, step on the telepad to 8F.
8F. Go slightly down and push right. When you hit a wall, go up slightly to continue right, then follow the path down and right to the bottom-right corner for the Hellfire. Backtrack the way you came (ignore the pathway near the top) and continue left rather than returning to the telepad. You’ll see a narrow set of stairs and a wider set next to each other; take the narrow stairs up. The Acid Phial is at the top corner.
That’s 234 of 234 chests in the game. From the last chest, walk right and down the stairs, then continue right to find the telepad at the top leading to 9F.
9F. Walk left until you reach the wall, then down to the final telepad to 10F.
10F. Walk north and approach the Emperor.
How to Beat the Emperor
The Emperor falls and Pandaemonium crumbles around you.
That’s 128 of 128 bestiary entries, 234 of 234 chests, 27 of 27 locations, and every Key Term learned. The entire FF2 Pixel Remaster is complete.
