Secret of Mana/Bosses

This is a list of bosses in chronological order. Strategies are included as well.

Mantis Ant

• HP: 150
• MP: 10
• EXP: 30
• GP: 0
• Type: Insect

• Element: Gnome (Lv. 0)
• Skills: Acid Breath
• Location: Potos Village
• Weapon Orb: Sword

Strategy
One of the first things to know is that the boy cannot die. If he does, he'll be revived by another character that you might have met in the inn. So with that in mind, don't use any rare candies. If you spent the time leveling up, you should have at least the sword skill at level 1. Use that against Mantis Ant.

Aside from the Ant's swinging, it can also use Acid Breath for minor damage and can throw a wave that knocks the Boy out.

Tropicallo

• HP: 300
• MP: 0
• EXP: 200
• GP: 130
• Type: Plant

• Element: Dryad
• Skills: None
• Location: Dwarf's Village
• Weapon Orb: Spear

Strategy
Tropicallo's pattern is to dig underground and pop up at a random place. Unfortunately the Boy is blocked direct access to Tropicallo thanks to stalactites. Using the spear may give you more range, but the sword can hit as well. Tropicallo's attacks are only tossing out pumpkin bombs that you can avoid by moving around. Its cohort Brambler is more of a nuisance than anything else.

Remember to heal if your HP drops below 25.

Brambler

• HP: 78
• MP: 99
• EXP: 2
• GP: 24
• Type: Plant

• Element: Dryad
• Skills: None
• Location: Dwarf's Village
• Weapon Orb: None

Strategy
Brambler comes with Tropicallo, and its only purpose is to annoy. You can defeat it, but it'll revive a short while later.

Spiky Tiger

• HP: 530
• MP: 21
• EXP: 210
• GP: 288
• Type: Animal

• Element: Salamando (Lv. 2)
• Skills: Fire Breath
• Location: Elinee's Castle
• Weapon Orb: Boomerang

Strategy
This is possibly one of the hardest bosses when you encounter it. Most of Spiky's attacks cause unconsciousness. When its up on the platforms, it will cast the spell Fire Bouquet and Fire Breath. Fire Breath causes Engulfing, which is like poisoning, only the affected character cannot act.

A good set up is to set the computer controlled characters to AWAY/ATTACK on the action grid, and set them to the highest level on their weapon skill. Make sure to keep the Boomerang or Bow free, as you can switch weapons to attack Spiky with either a close quarter weapon or a long range one. As long as you continue to attack Spiky, it won't get a lot of attacks in, as they hurt your characters. Heal anyone who drops below 40HP.

Tonpole

• HP: 600
• MP: 0
• EXP: 50
• GP: 0
• Type: Lizard

• Element: Undine
• Skills: None
• Location: Water Palace Cave
• Weapon Orb: None

Strategy
Tonpole fights much like a basic enemy. It'll hop around and then hurt anyone who gets in its way. Just keep attacking it until it transforms into Biting Lizard.

Biting Lizard

• HP: 770
• MP: 6
• EXP: 210
• GP: 348
• Type: Lizard

• Element: Undine (Lv. 3)
• Skills: None
• Location: Water Palace Cave
• Weapon Orb: Glove

Strategy
Biting Lizard's main, and only, attack is to eat people. This is unavoidable and does quite a bit of damage. It also can cast Cure Water, which it will after most of its HP is gone, to which it'll keep doing it. So in reality, Biting Lizard has somewhere around 1500 HP. The key to this battle is to be persistent.

Fire Gigas

• HP: 750
• MP: 99
• EXP: 326
• GP: 435
• Type: Spirit

• Element: Salamando (Lv. 4)
• Skills: Fire Breath
• Location: Earth Palace
• Weapon Orb: Axe

Strategy
Fire Gigas has a tendency to attack non-stop upon a character, which is bad. Lava Wave and Exploder at its level will do at least 50 HP of damage. Also at times, it will split into fire orbs and is invulnerable until it reforms. The best way to defeat the Gigas is to chain cast with the Sprite with Freeze. If you chain cast until all of the Sprite's MP is gone, it should do enough to kill it.

Even though Fire Gigas's spell attacks can damage all three characters, it is possible to block them simply by casting a spell. When you notice Fire Gigas beginning to cast a spell, retaliate with a set of your own from your two spell casters.

Wall Face/Chamber's Eye (left)/Chamber's Eye (right)

File:SOM Wall Face/Chamber's Eye (left)/Chamber's Eye (right).png

• HP: 900/300/300
• MP: 99/99/99
• EXP: 580/0/0
• GP: 720/0/0
• Type: Demon

• Element: Shade(Lv. 3)
• Skills: None/Flash Beam, Leaden Glare/none
• Location: Pandora Ruins
• Weapon Orb: Bow

Strategy
Wall Face will use Freeze and Revivifier as its main spells. It tends to use Freeze on the one who does the most damage. It'll also revive any eye that's dead. Melee-attacking Wall Face, the main eye, is rather pointless, as its hard to hit and has a high amount of defense. One of the best ways to defeat it is to use Earth Slide on the Wall Face only. Just don't use HP absorb, as the reverse happens. Watch out for Leaden Glare, it can turn a character into stone. Defeating both of the Chamber's Eyes will make the wall close in on you until you are crushed and skewered by the spikes. Needless to say, this automatically kills your entire party. The Wall Face will be vulnerable the entire time it closes in on you, however.

Kilroy

File:SOM Kilroy.png

• HP: 960
• MP: 10
• EXP: 686
• GP: 650
• Type: Machine

• Element: Luna (Lv. 1)
• Skills:
• Location: Gang's Hideout, Dwarf Village
• Weapon Orb: Javelin

Strategy
This boss focuses more on physical attacks. Its hammer can cause Moogle, a temporary effect but that character can only move around. The main problem with this boss is that it has high defense to both physical and magical attacks. If you plan on magic, use Earth Slide and bring at least two Faerie Walnuts. Otherwise use your best weapons. When Kilroy's HP reaches about half, it'll drop its legs for wheeled movement.

Jabberwocky

File:SOM Jabberwocky.png

• HP: 900
• MP: 99
• EXP: ~1000
• GP: ~1000
• Type: Dragon

• Element: Undine (Lv. 4)
• Skills: Poison Gas
• Location: Water Palace
• Weapon Orb: Bow

Strategy
Despite there being two heads you have to fight, you fight Jabberwocky as one boss. It casts Acid Rain and Poison Gas, but the latter cannot affect your characters if they're wearing the Cobra Bracelet. You again have a choice of using weapons or spells to attack it, as they both equally take the same amount of damage.

Spring Beak

File:SOM Spring Beak.png

• HP: 720
• MP: 99
• EXP: 1090
• GP: 864
• Type: Bird

• Element: Sylphid (Lv. 3)
• Skills:
• Location: Sprite Village
• Weapon Orb: Boomerang

Strategy
All Spring Beak does is jump around, though it will occasionally cast Air Slash. A few Earth Slides will take care of it.

Great Viper

File:SOM Great Viper.png

• HP: 1330
• MP: 8
• EXP: 1410
• GP: 1056
• Type: Reptile

• Element: Gnome
• Skills:
• Location: Matango Caves
• Weapon Orb: Sword

Strategy
The Great Viper is a very fast boss. Not only that, there's a possibility of being miniaturized with each hit it does, and it can swallow small characters. Use Air Slash or Thunderbolt to do a lot of damage to it. Trying to attack it with weapons will be frustrating.

Mech Rider

File:SOM Mech Rider.png

• HP: 980
• MP: 18
• EXP: 1595
• GP: 1055
• Type: Machine

• Element: None (Lv. 3)
• Skills:
• Location: Kakara Desert
• Weapon Orb: Whip

Strategy
You'll fight Mech Rider in a rather large area. He'll be on the left or right side of the screen. When he wants to move, he'll move horizontally across, which also doubles as his main attack. When he's on either side, he'll either shoot missiles or cast Speed Up.

Start with draining out his HP by using Air Blast or Thunderbolt, then switch to weapons as he'll have a low enough HP that he won't survive a few hits.

Boreal Face

File:SOM Boreal Face.png

• HP: 1100
• MP: 12
• EXP: 2245
• GP: 1040
• Type: Plant

• Element: Dryad (Lv. 4)
• Skills: None
• Location: Ice Country
• Weapon Orb: Bow

Strategy
The first thing you'll notice is that Boreal Face is very much like Tropicallo. It attacks very much the same way, only touching its shell can hurt, and it uses Burst, which hurts a lot. At this point however, using spells against this boss is useless. Even if you had a full number of Faerie Walnuts, you cannot hurt more than about half of its HP before running dry. The best way to defeat it is to use fully charged weapons, hopefully one of them at level 3. But don't hit Boreal at its sides, it typically misses. Boreal Face also comes with the same Brambler as Tropicallo.

Tonpole and Biting Lizard (3x)

File:SOM Tonpole and Biting Lizard (3x).png

• HP: 600/700
• MP: 0/6
• EXP: 50/210
• GP: 0/348
• Type: Lizard

• Element: Undine
• Skills:
• Location: Ice Palace
• Weapon Orb: None

Strategy
This battle is really more or less a distraction. Tonpoles can't hurt you, and getting eaten by the Biting Lizards only hurt them.

Ice Gigas

File:SOM Ice Gigas.png

• HP: 1140
• MP: 99
• EXP: 3045
• GP: 1200
• Type: Spirit

• Element: Undine(Lv. 6)
• Skills: Freeze Breath
• Location: Ice Palace
• Weapon Orb:

Strategy
Fortunately, this is the weakest of the Gigases. The most it can do is around 70HP. The first thing it does is cast Ice Saber, which makes it harder for your characters to hit it, but this can be dispelled by swapping weapons. The easiest way to defeat it is to cast Exploder and Blaze Wall or Fire Bouquet.

Minotaur

File:SOM Minotaur.png

• HP: 1200
• MP: 99
• EXP: 3348
• GP: 1440
• Type: Animal

• Element: Gnome (Lv. 7)
• Skills:
• Location: Fire Palace
• Weapon Orb: Javelin

Strategy
Minotaur can be dangerous if you let him attack. Aside from a strong physical attack and defense, his Earth Slide can cause major damage. When he loses about half of his HP, he'll turn red and more aggressive. Using regular attacks won't take off a lot of damage to him, but he's really weak against magic spells. Use Air Slash or Thunderbolt to take out the boss quickly.

Doom's Wall/Doom's Eye (left)/Doom's Eye (right)

File:SOM Doom's Wall/Doom's Eye (left)/Doom's Eye (right).png

• HP: 1180/425/425
• MP: 99/99/99
• EXP: 4750/1/1
• GP: 648/0/0
• Type: Demon

• Element: Shade (Lv. 5)
• Skills: Cave/Leaden Glare, Confuse Hoops/None
• Location: Northtown Ruins
• Weapon Orb: Whip

Strategy
This battle is akin to Wall Face back in Pandora. The main eye will cast Thunderbolt or Revivifier depending on if another eye is dead or not. The left eye can petrify or confuse someone and the right eye uses Energy Absorb. However, if the main eye loses all of its MP, it resorts to using Cave and another attack that can cause lots of damage. To deal a lot of damage back to it though, use Air Blast if Sylphid is fully leveled up. It does more damage per MP than Thunderbolt.

Vampire

File:SOM Vampire.png

• HP: 2250
• MP: 99
• EXP: 5148
• GP: 696
• Type: Demon

• Element: Boomerang
• Skills: Sleep Ring
• Location: Northtown Ruins
• Weapon Orb: Boomerang

Strategy
Vampire for the most part will float around and attempt to grab one of your characters. It can use Energy Absorb or Freeze, but both are low damaging. Using physical attacks is tricky, since its invulnerable when its wings are closed. Again use Air Blast against it to deal a good amount of damage.

Metal Mantis

File:SOM Metal Mantis.png

• HP: 1220
• MP: 40
• EXP: 4749
• GP: 1464
• Type: Machine

• Element: None (Lv. 5)
• Skills: Fire Beam
• Location: Imperial Castle
• Weapon Orb: Glove

Strategy
This boss acts very similar to Mantis Ant fought in the beginning, the only difference is that it can use Fire Beam, Defender, and Speed Up. Fire Beam, while you can dodge it, is usually very accurate and causes engulfing. For this fight, don't use spells, since weapons can do enough damage.

Mech Rider 2

File:SOM Mech Rider 2.png

• HP: 1258
• MP: 30
• EXP: 6013
• GP: 1500
• Type: Machine

• Element: None (Lv. 5)
• Skills: Wave Cannon
• Location: Imperial Castle
• Weapon Orb: Javelin

Strategy
This battle isn't much different than the first time you fought Geshtar. Again his main attack is just to run your guys over. He may use an ability called Wave Cannon if his MP is out. Air Blast works well, and physical attacks can also deal a decent amount of damage.

Lime Slime

File:SOM Lime Slime.png

• HP: 3470
• MP: 99
• EXP: 8000
• GP: 3000
• Type: Slime

• Element: Undine (Lv. 5)
• Skills: None
• Location: Palace of Darkness
• Weapon Orb: Javelin

Strategy
One thing to note, this boss battle is pushing the SNES hardware to its limits. As a result, things may get glitchy, but it shouldn't crash the game. It starts off very large, then shrinks as its HP shrinks. It'll change colors but this is simply something that supposed to affect its attack, it'll be the same element no matter the color. Because your characters are stuck in the slime, they can't move around, and the only attacks you have available to your are magic. Lime Slime is weak against Salamando, but use Exploder, as it does the most damage.

Blue Spike

File:SOM Blue Spike.png

• HP: 1980
• MP: 99
• EXP: 9150
• GP: 3840
• Type: Beast

• Element: None (Lv. 6)
• Skills: Acid Bubbles, Moogle Glare
• Location: Light Palace
• Weapon Orb: Boomerang

Strategy
This fight is much like Spiky Tiger, but it's not as hard as it was then. It will jump on one of two platforms to get out of your character's reach. The good thing is now you have spells, but it's hard to hit over 200HP in one shot. However, if you pummel it with 2MP cost spells, it should seriously hurt it until you need to use a Faerie Walnut.

At about 500HP left, it will feign death. Don't be fooled by it.

Gorgon Bull

File:SOM Gorgon Bull.png

• HP: 2470
• MP: 99
• EXP: 9755
• GP: 4800
• Type: Beast

• Element: Gnome (Lv. 8)
• Skills: None
• Location: Light Palace
• Weapon Orb: Bow

Strategy
Gorgon Bull is very much like Minotaur. It'll headbutt and cast Earth Slide. However, there's a dangerous twist to this fight. If you do not have at least a Battle Suit equipped, Earth Slide will hurt badly, and it has a tendency to cast non-stop when it can. Chain cast Air Blast until you reach 999 damage, then repeat so it doesn't get a chance to attack.

Shadow X

File:SOM Shadow X.png

• HP: 999 (Boy)/800 (Girl)/800 (Sprite)
• MP: 0/0/0
• EXP: 0/0/0
• GP: 0/0/0
• Type: Spirit

• Element: Shade
• Skills: None
• Location: Joch's Cave
• Weapon Orb: None

Strategy
One thing to note is that spells are totally ineffective against them, except Evil Gate which does fixed damage based upon Shade's Level.

The Shadow X's uses the weapons that their respective character initially came with. So the Boy has the sword, the Girl has the glove, and the Sprite has the boomerang, and they can use all of the weapon skill levels. There's two ways to defeat them. The first is to flat out defeat them. The second way is to let your characters die, since if one of them dies, the corresponding Shadow X dies. Of course, you want to revive your characters before all of them die.

Aegagropilon

File:SOM Aegagropilon.png

• HP: 3016
• MP: 99
• EXP: 11050
• GP: 1800
• Type: Plant

• Element: Dryad (Lv. 7)
• Skills: None
• Location: Sunken Palace
• Weapon Orb: Spear

Strategy
Aegagropilon is probably the hardest boss you'll face if you're not well prepared for it. The boss has some fairly powerful moves, and can be cheap with it. It starts off the battle by casting Wall. If you plan on using magic, you must have Shade at level 4 or higher to dispel it, otherwise you'll be forced to use physical attacks until it either runs out MP to recast Wall or it doesn't bother recasting it.

If you can't dispel Wall, use Lunar Boost to give your main attacker an edge. If you can, use Dark Force as this can do a lot of damage for its cost. If the boss is too hard, level up your elements to at least 4.