Final Fantasy VI/Doom Gaze and the Eight Dragons

Doom Gaze
The trick to being able to fight Doom Gaze is to realize that it isn't a random battle in the usual sense of the word. Every time you take off in the airship Doom Gaze has a fixed location on the world map he is hiding in. To get into a fight with Doom Gaze all you need to do is find that location and get close enough to it to trigger a battle. Hence, if you're ready to fight, flying around in circles is pointless and wandering around aimlessly may not work well either. When you take off, tilt your ship at a very slight angle, then hold L+R to go full steam ahead. You'll move across the map at a slight angle and cover every location until you run into Doom Gaze.

However, there is one time you can count on fighting Doom Gaze: the first time you leave Kefka's Tower, you will fight him, so make sure you leave the Tower at least once.

Doom Gaze absorbs most elemental spells, so I would recommend using your strongest physical attacks like Chainsaw or non-elemental attacks like Bum Rush. He's weak against Fire and Pearl however, so you can try your strongest fire spell or Pearl if you have it. And unblockable magic spells like Ultima are always a plus of course. Doom Gaze has 55,555 HP total and although he usually escapes before a battle is finished he's unable to regenerate HP. Meaning that all you have to do to wear him down is keep fighting him over and over and do some damage each time. And since you know how to find Doom Gaze with the above method, this should be a cinch.

Doom Gaze is vulnerable to the Vanish-Doom/X-Zone combo, but if you use Vanish then X-Zone, you will not receive the Bahamut esper. There is also a chance you won't receive it when using Vanish then Doom. Save your game if you want to be on the safe side.

The Eight Dragons
There is a normal (difficult) way and and an easy way to fight each of the Eight Dragons. The easy way is to use Vanish and then Doom. This may not always work on Skull Dragon, so instead try using Vanish and Life.

Dirt/Earth Dragon
This is the one Dragon you won't encounter on any of the normal sidequests. To find it, go to the Opera House, which is in the thin middle section of the left middle continent. Go up to the balcony like you did for the original opera house scene, and flip the second switch from the right to drop down onto the stage.

Before initiating the fight, make sure you have float on all of your characters, since Earth Dragon uses Quake. You can either cast float on each character prior to the fight, or equip Cherub Downs (this will re-cast float if a character happens to die). Cherub Downs can be purchased in the nearby city of Jidoor.

Float will make your team members immune to most of the earth based attacks and make the Dirt Dragon unable to permanently bring you to the ground either. You can also equip your party members with Gaia Gear which absorbs earth attacks.

Earth Dragon is weak to wind and water magic, and it is also vulnerable to Poison, Sleep, and Slow. You should just use your strongest attacks and take your time and you should be fine.

Storm Dragon

 * Location: Mount Zozo in Cyan's sidequest.
 * HP: 42,500
 * Weak against: lightning.
 * Strong against: fire.
 * Attacks:
 * Normal attack: ~300 damage to one target.
 * Wind Slash (hits all party members for 500-1000 damage).
 * Aero: blue tornadoes hit everyone for 600-1300 damage.
 * Cyclonic: green tornadoes hit everyone for ~1100-1300 damage.

Edgar's Chainsaw is effective here. Thunder3 with, say Celes, is also good. Fire2 deals about 1000 damage less than Thunder3.

Red Dragon
Located in the Phoenix cave in Locke's sidequest. Weak against water and ice, vulnerable to Poison, Confusion, and Slow, absorbs fire magic.

White/Holy Dragon
Located in a top side room in the Fanatic's Tower. Equip wall rings on your entire party as usual in the tower. It absorbs pearl and has no elemental weaknesses. It is vulnerable to mute. Use unblockable spells like Ultima or your strongest other magic.

Blue Dragon
Located in the secret room in the ancient castle in [[Final Fantasy VI/Edgar's sidequest|Edgar's sidequest/Ancient Castle]. It is weak against lightning, and also vulnerable to poison and slow. Use your best physical or magical attacks as usual, and you should have the offering to help you out a lot.

Ice Dragon
Located on the snowy hills of Narshe where you fought Kefka, in [Final Fantasy VI/Mog's sidequest|Mog/Umaro's sidequest]. Use your strongest fire magic and it absorbs ice naturally. It is vulnerable to Poison, Silence, Berserk, Confuse, and Slow.

Gold Dragon
Fought by your second party in [Final Fantasy VI/Chapter 12: Kefka's Tower|Kefka's Tower]. Attacks with lightning, weak against water, vulnerable to poison and berzerk, by this point you should have enough powerful magic and attacks to finish it.

Skull Dragon
Fought by your third party in [Final Fantasy VI/Chapter 12: Kefka's Tower|Kefka's Tower]. An undead dragon with annoying status altering spells. Ribbons help naturally, and use your strongest fire spells or pearl.