Overview
A guide on how to get Squall’s ulitmate weapon, the Lionheart, by the middle of the frist disk. For those that never played the original playstation release, disk 1 ended after the battle with Edea.
What is the Lion Heart? Why do I want it? MASSACRE THE BITE BUGS!!!!!
If you are familiar with the weapon mechanics in the game aleardy, you may give this section a “(Whatever)” and skip it.
Throughout FFVIII, the player has the ability to obtain better weapons for the game chracters (Laguna’s crew excluded). The most powerful of these, the Lion Heart, is Squall’s ultimate weapon.
Squall’s standard Gunblade, the Revolver, clocks in with an attack power of 11.
By comparison, the Lion Heart has an attack of 30.
While this direct stat bonus is indeed nice, the real power of the Lion Heart comes from what it unlocks in Squall’s limit breaks. After Squall finishes the strikes from his Renzokuken, he may sometimes deliver a finishing move. The moves available to him vary depending on what weapon he has.
With the Revolver, he has access to one finisher, the Rough Divide.
With the Lion Heart, he gains access to 3 additional finsihers: Fated Circle, Blasting Zone, and, most importantly, Lion Heart. This attack does devastating damage to one target; it is ESSENTIAL FOR DISPOSING OF NASTY BITE BUGS!
Lion Heart as a limit break finisher is only available to Squall if he has the aptly-named Lion Heart weapon equipped.
In most games, this late-game weapon is only attainable in the late game. However, through careful leveling and grinding, it can be obtained very early in the game.
What You’ll Need
The items needed to make Squall’s Lion Heart are quite difficult to come by early on. However, tt is possible. Here’s what you’ll need:
Adamantine x 1
Dragon Fang x 4
Pulse Ammo x 12
This may not seem like a lot of materials, and you’re right. However, their difficulty to aquire makes this an endgame gambit. Until now!
Who to grind, and who to bench.
The key to making this all work is the grind. The majority will be happening immediatley after the events in Timber.
It is VITAL to your own sanity that you follow the suggestions on who to bring in your party, and who to sideline for a while. In order to get the items we will need, certain characters must be at specific levels. This is related to drop rates and items, but that isn’t really important for now.
The key question is, “who do I bench?”
ZELL and RINOA need to be leveled as little as possible. DO NOT USE THEM UNLESS NECESSARRY FOR STORY EVENTS!
Zell, of course, will be part of your party for most of the events leading up to the end of the Timber missions. However, there is little reason to use Rinoa for now. Save her nice, low level for use later.
IDEALLY: Zell and Rinoa should stay around level 10-15 until Galbadia Garden is reached. The reason why will become clear later. This doesn’t require you to run from all battles; just try not to use them excessivley when they are forced into your party.
CONVERSELY: As you proably guessed, you need to grind and level Quistis, Selphie, and Squall mercilessly.
IDEALLY: Squall, Quistis, and Selphie will be level 30 by the time they have the forsest dream, after exiting the East Acadamey train station.
What is Needed?
This is the list of what will be needed to make this work, and where you can get these things.
GF: Abilites that must be learned by Quezacotl, Diablos, and Ifrit.
Quezacotl: Card(40ap), Card Mod(80ap)
Diablos: Mug(200ap)
Ifrit: Ammo-RF(30ap) Note: Ifrit must be Level 10+ for Ammo-RF to be learned.
Items: Items that must be obtained.
Laser Cannon x 3
Dragon Fang x 4
1x Minotaur Card
ONCE you have these things, you are ready. Here’s how to get them all.
What to Grind, Where to Grind
WHAT:
The Grind
Grinding can be done at your discretion in relation to leveling up, but 2 areas require grinding for items.
WHERE:
I have found the best are to grind out levels is in the Roshfall Forest, directly after exiting the train from Timber.
Specifically, go into the forests to fight enemies. However BE CAREFUL! The forest between the canyon walls that lead to Galbadia Garden will trigger the forsest dream.
DO NOT ENTER THE FOREST LEADING TO GALBADIA GARDEN UNTIL SQUALL, QUISTIS, AND SELPHIE ARE LVL 30!
Enemies you should expect to encounter are Cocktarice, Fungar, Anaconor, Ochu, and Wendingo. Of these, the Ochu are most dangerous, with their high HP and status effects.
Also be careful of Cocktarice, as it can inflict petirfy (If you see a number counting down above your character’s head, that means they will turn to stone when it reaches 0).
This is also a great area to grind AP for your GFs. Make sure that you are having them learn the right ones.
Now that you have your levels all sorted out, let’s get to the meat of this task.
What to Kill, Where to Kill
FOREST DREAM: This is where having level 30 characters will make sense.
WHAT: Esther is where we will get our laser cannons. These are what will become our Pulse Ammo. To do this, we must MUG 3 Laser Cannons from ELASTOIDS.
WHERE: Elastoids can be found in the mines in Esther during the dream sequence. The area I have been able to most reliably find them is on the long staircase, after you pass the detonators. They are common enemies.
WHAT: After the Forest Dream, we can find the next target, GRENDAL.
This is where you will want to SWITCH ZELL and RINOA INTO THE PARTY.
Grendals hold the all-important Dragon Fang that is needed. At levels 1-19 there is a 190/256 chance of dropping a dragon fang. NOTE: I said DROPPING, not MUG. I reccommend unequipping MUG, as it seems items don’t drop from MUGGED enemies.
At levels 20-29, Grendal has a 51/256 chance of droping a dragon fang. While still possilbe, it is much difficult to aquire. Zell and Rinoa low levels will help to keep the average Grendal below that threshold. NOTE: You can check the level of a grendal by drawing: if it has Tier 1 elemental magic (Fire, Blizzard), it is level 1-19. If it has Tier 2 (Fira Blizzara), it is level 20-29.
At this point, in order to keep Zell and Rinoa low level, RUN FROM EVERY BATTE THAT ISN’T WITH A GRENDAL!
WHERE: The only place I can find Grendals in Roshfal Forest is in the actual forest where the dream occured. After the events of the forest dream, the forest there will revert to an overworld location. In this forest, you will find the Grendal.
Grendal is a rare monster to find, so don’t be surprised if getting 4 Dragon Fangs takes a good while.
What to Do, Where to Do it
If you have gotten to this point, CONGRATULATIONS! You have completed the most difficult parts. The rest is a cakewalk, to sit back in your chair and take a moment for yourself.
WHAT: A BREATH
You earned it.
WHERE: Your Chair.
Great work so far, Mrs. Robinson.
What to Pillage, Where to Pillage
The final step is to get that Minotaur card. To do this, follow the events of the game until the guard outside of General Caradine’s home gives you a quest.
WHAT: Boss Battle with the Brothers.
After defeating the Brothers, you will be given the Minotaur card. This is the final piece of the puzzle.
WHERE: Tomb of the Unknown King
Here is where you find the boss battle.
Putting it All Together
Its finally time to make this thing.
First: Use Ammo-RF to turn the 3 laser cannons into 15 Pulse Ammo.
Next: Use Quezacotl’s Card Mod ability to turn the Minotaur card into 10 Adamantine.
Finally: Head to Deling city and go the Weapon Shop. It is just south of the Hotel, on the next screen down.
.
.
.
.
.
YAY! We now have Lion Heart!
Congratualtions. Through your patience and dedication, you have obtained Lion Heart before the end of Disk 1.
Now go massacre some bite bugs.
