First off, yes I realized as of this morning after the file no longer exists that it says Seraph where Siren's name should be. That's a my bad. Secondly, as of a Pixel Remaster update as of yesterday there were a couple of upgrades. Raiden goes from +2 Strength to +2 Speed which would bump him up a a point or two. Alexander now goes from no level up bonus to +2 Strength which would bring him from bottom to around 3rd. Again, file no longer exists to edit so big sad. With THAT out of the way, who is your favourite esper and why?

Love how people still post stuff like this, this game was my childhood

Don't sleep on ragnarok. Ribbons, genji gloves, safety bits, megalixers, thunder shields (bet for genji shields), miracle shoes, ichigeki/assassins dagger all can be obtained through metamorphosis.

I love Golem. That giant stone hand coming out of the ground to protect you is awesome. Plus... they have him looking like a robot. Who wouldn't love a magic robot??

3 ways to get Image: - Summon Fenrir - Shadow uses the vanish edge/shadow edge (Gogo can do this too) - Equip the Mirage Vest, you start off with Vanish. It's honestly one of the better armors in the game.

IRC Shadow has a scroll that gives himself image.

The only reason Crusader sticks out in my head is that I remember spinning it on the Esper slots and getting sent back to the last save point.

Shiva is one of my favorites purely for teaching Osmose, which means infinite free MP for the rest of the game

I always keep Odin, at least for a while. Not for the +Speed. But for the Meteor spell. It's a nice spell that sweeps many randoms. Especially in the Cultists Tower (the mobs there have numerous elemental resistances, and some even have innate Reflect, which Meteor simply disregards).

Man, I'm so used to do Natural Magic Only runs that I totally forgot that equipping Espers grants you stat bonusses on Level Ups.

I can't believe you rated Quick (and thus Raiden) so low... Quick is one of the most busted spells in the history of the franchise. Extra turns are overpowered in any turn-based RPG, and Quick not only gives you two extra turns, but also disables anyone from doing anything else until you're done. Jump becomes "instant", Cyan can take his time charging up Bushido... also, enemies can't counterattack. There's a reason why we haven't seen this spell in the numbered games since VI: it's that busted. Also, Raiden increasing Speed is an amazing improvement.

You can also get Image statut with Shadow Scroll through the Thrown command with Shadow (or Gogo).

“Wimpy horse is higher than a castle of lasers.” Dead.

If the first available espers don't get a 10 in accessibility then your methodology is off.

If nothing gets a 10/10 rating, is there a point to the cap? As it stands, the final scores should be out of 36, since none of the scores, not even the insane +2 speed on level up, manage to achieve it. If the concern is weighting certain things more (which accessibility may be guilty of) then the preferred solution would be to weigh each category differently.

There is two other ways you can apply Image status other than Fenrir: 1. Using Shadow Edge through the Throw command. 2. Mirage Vest Both of which only work on one character, while Fenrir works on *the entire party.*

Imma level with you, Crusader needs extra points taken off for every time I died to it in my first play through's early game by using a magicite shard. EDIT: Other sources of image include Shadows scroll (forget the name) and the mirage vest (which I have never seen a single person use).

You are going to need an update of this video, because after the update a few days ago, Alexander now gives +2 STR bonus and Raiden gives +2 SPD, which is awesome.

I'm pretty sure Shadow can inflict the Image on himself if he used a scroll. Forget what it's called though.

Today you earned my sub. Keep these coming!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the first 4 you get in zozo should be 10/10 accessible since you get them by default. Would love to hear why they are docked a point.

The typo in the phantom scorecard got me more than it shouldve

Always lookin forward to every video! We are all learnin' so much! Great, great video, once again, buddy! Hell yeah! FF6

Trying to route a high stat run so these videos have been super helpful.

IDK if anyone else knows this, but using Gogo to mimic Ragnarok summon (which can be done infinitely) you can actually morph the entire bunch of enemies in an encounter (where there are more than 1). The only thing you have to remember, is Gogo "wastes" a morph turn right after a successful morphing because it doesn't re-target right away after an enemy has been morphed for some reason, but the next turn, it will lock on a new target and you can lather, rinse, repeat. While it's still tedious, it does make the chances of getting an item greater than not doing that.

I did a run where I didn’t spend any money unless absolutely necessary and Unicorn’s x4 Cura was worth its weight in gold there. That’s about what it takes to make the esper useful. Also, Shadow can set Image using the Vanish Edge.

Osmose is booty? Really? It's one of the best spells in the game since it lets you use your other spells with reckless abandon. No idea how Zoneseek's spells are rated so low.

Fenrir isn't the only source of image. You can get unlimited Mirage Vests from the colosseum which are equippable by everybody except umaro.

Generally agreed with most of this tier list, but the Str +2 & especially Mag +2 level up bonuses should be worth 10/10.

Ragnorok should have been lower. You can get ultima from the paladin shield, which is a pain in the butt to obtain, but this game is easy enough to where it really doesn't matter whether you have ultima or not anyway. On top of that, if you get it in it's sword form, you can trade it for the lightbringer in the colliseum, which is the most overpowered piece of equipment in the game. It's just not worth keeping it in esper form.

Just discovered your channel recently, and I am loving your Final Fantasy videos. One minor bit of advice I wanted to offer: I noticed that when you speak about your evaluation criteria, you seem to refer to the categories as "rhetorics" (at least that's what it sounds like to me). I think perhaps the word you're looking for would be "rubric," or maybe "metric," which both can refer to grading systems. Just my two cents, anyway. Looking forward to checking out more from your channel!

The most important tier list in the history of mankind

I think you mean to say "rubric" and not "rhetoric".

As a kid playing this game, I never bother with the level up bonus for Espers. I used them all just to learn spells for everyone. Some had faster spell rates to learn. Otherwise, my favorite espers to use is the bird that makes us all dragoons! Fun one that is!

Bismark is absolutely crucial during a Max Stats 100% completion playthrough.

Bismark was always on Cyan for that plus 1 or 2 on strength on level up Cyan is who I used the most at that Coliseum.

Kirin is #1 if you ignore lvl up bonus, easy. 5/10 is a huge underrating on his summon. It's the only all cast of regen in the game (very OP in WoB). Summon should be 7 or 8. There is absolutely no way Carbuncle is better than Kirin. Insanity.

There is another way to get "image" on your characters: Mirage Vest (armor). Also Shadow can get Image status early on, if you buy him some Shadow Edge/Scroll item for him to throw (like in front of Gau's dad's house in Sabin's scenario). How to get Mirage vest? First, you take Gogo with you to the veldt after killing the Senior Behemoth in the cave of the veldt, and use Ragnarok to morph Senior Behemoths until you get a Thornlet (your two other possible results of morph are Cursed Ring and Lich Ring aka Relic Ring). Take that Thornlet to the Coliseum, fight an Aspidochelon (Opinicus) with any Character wearing Gaia Gear (like Gau) for an EZ win, and there you have it, Mirage Vest. It's probably a good idea to give Gogo a Wall ring or toss a Reflect on him first before you multi-morph so the sucker can't Death him to death and interrupt the mimic chain.

use the moogle charm and get the dragons as soon as you have the airship. It's three trips, you'll need to abuse the system, switch to wait for the two dragons but it's a fun mid-game challenge and having crusader for the rest of the WOR is fun.

Great video! I love your channel. Regarding Fenrir’s Image, I think Shadow has a skean that causes Image!

There is an armor that gives the image buff (Mirage Vest) that you can get via colosseum battles i believe. Shadow may have a skean/scroll he can use to give himself the image buff as well but can't recall for sure on that one.

Not sure which version of the game you were basing this off of, but Meltdown/Merton was originally fire-based and you could equip flame shields to recover HP when casting it.

fun vid! as someone else mentioned in the comments, shadow has a scroll he can throw to give himself image. I believe there is also a relic in the coliseum that gives an image... could be wrong about that one though

Loved the list and your ranking system. There were quite a few mistakes in terms of video production, but I think that‘s something you can improve on in future videos. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 I also share your disdain against gravity magic!

Mirage Vest that you can win in the arena auto casts Image on the wearer. I love this armor for Locke.

well, i had taken the time to make a comprehensive list to add to yours, and i misclicked and closed the page and it's gone >.> overall, a solid assessment, but I would recommend you adjust the way you judge spells and more uniformly judge the level up bonuses. the stats are always more impactful than the hp/mp considering at max level, you'll all have 9500+hp and 950+mp. I do recognize they would possibly benefit a low level run more, but so would the stat increases. my list put bismark at the top because his bonus is the earliest way to raise str effectively, and he's the earliest way to get access to raise, additionally, despite his damage being largely unimpressive, he's one of the very few sources of water damage, making him critical in the house fire. summons like palidor are also overlooked because their damage isn't amazing, but against single targets, he's one of the best for many reasons- firstly, it makes all your characters un-target-able for several attacks, then causes 4 instances of high damage as each player comes crashing down, well exceeding the 9999 damage cap on any other esper against a single target. ragnirok is also the only way to obtain some very rare gear, which you mentioned, but it boost his (best) status considerably.

Good morning Bdewd! Just to let you know, I noticed a small error on your "chapters" so to speak in the video bar. It looks like you forgot to add the "Bismark" part and his part of the video is still labled along with Sirens.

Raiden for the heavy speed boost. I usually transform Ragnarok into a sword because you can get the second best sword in the game by betting it in the coliseum and you can learn Ultimate by equipping the Paladin Shield once you break its curse. Genii Glove/ Master Scroll/ Illumina/ Ultima Weapon= highest damage output in the game at late levels usually around 60k per turn with an additional chance to may cast Pearl. The espers IMO are mostly for visuals.

Fun list, here's my personal thoughts on some of the choices: With the right setup, Crusader can barely touch you while demolishing foes (same with other similar spells in the game) Don't ignore what Ragnarok can do, though I do feel like it is also worth noting the great Ragnarok debate: The sword, or the summon Shiva also grants Rasp if memory serves, which can be an alt way in the WoB to defeat at least some bosses. Cait Sith is actually REALLY powerful, especially WoB when a lot of enemies are vulnerable to confuse. It's also good to help learn some Lores as well. Zone Seek is probably the most consistently useful (or very close to it) Esper in the game: It's summon effect is always useful, it's magic isn't bad, and it's level-up bonus is arguably the most useful (along with the other +2 magic ones) in the game. Raiden is probably the most amusing Esper in the game from a purely "I did this because it sounded stupid"-sort of way. Quick is way too good, even if it's not 'as' good as it was in FFV simply because the damage output of your party members can get utterly ridiculous, even in the mid-game, let alone the end. Thus you can turn any char with high damage output into an utterly ridiculous behemoth of raw power and cheese the hell out of most encounters. Depending on circumstance, Golem can be better over Fenrir. Image can be dispelled, or pierced if memory serves, and some enemies can and do attack multiple times to overcome that as well. Golem however is more consistent, and will block an attack even that exceeds it's "HP", and thus can stop even a death-blow in a lucky situation, but if someone's focused down, once Image runs out, that's it. Quezacolli is my 2nd fave in the whole game purely for the wild shit you can do, like 'Jump only' (which is "technically" not possible unless you allow for a lot of required exceptions). But it is hilarious, and Jump is surprisingly strong in this game.

The Steam PR finally got that patch and some magicite changed level up bonuses.

Fun fact in case nobody knew you can put vanish on enemies and almost all bosses and use x-zone! Works like a charm. 😊

I forget which Esper gives a +Vigor, but i would always assign it to Cyan (my fav character). Well, by mid-game, his quadra slam would be taking away 9999 FOR EACH SLICE!! It was insane!

I'm confused how the first summons both siren and Cait sith only have a 9/10 accessibility?

So what does it take for a 10/10 accessibility?

Ragnarock was such a huge disappointment to me because from the name you'd assume it's out there with Bahamuth, Odin, and Alexander, then my disappointment was doubled after I learned that having it as equipment is much better

Since I trained my characters, some of the best espers for me are Quetzal, Phoenix, Golem and yes, Bahamut, because I only use their abilities if it gives me more options in the fight. Phoenix is situacional, but with equipment you can literally choose who survives till the end, Quetzal allows to dodge and counter migthy attacks, and Golem is a good defense with some bosses.

Damn it! I didn't know that super nes had such stunning particle system

There was a bug in the SNES version (and I think the PS1 version) where if you did the Vanish + Xzone trick on any monster (ESPECIALLY Doomgaze), you wouldn't get any dropped items. That included the Bahamut magicite. So then I never really used Vanish + XZone, but rather Vanish + Doom instead (unless undead monster, then I just threw a phoenix down at it lol).

The first esper you can get has a 9 accessibility that means it's a 1 - 9 scale instead of 1 - 10...

Quick isn't just a "pretty good spell", it's essentially game-breaking. If you also farm and equip Economizers, it costs 1mp. Can we say "infinite turns" boys and girls? I did this back in the SNES days, and Kefka only got one turn per phase. The rest was all constant Genji / Master Scroll attacks and Mime, then re-casting Quick... lol

I'm ranking based on the Esper's effects and not the spells they teach, I've played too many randomizers to remember how spells affect them. My bias is mostly for the final battle. S - Always makes me smile when I find these, always useful Bahamut (weaker Ultima without needing the Ultima grind) Golem, Fenrir (stops repose/calmness during the final battle) A - Mostly for the final battle Unicorn (counters Trine/Train uh the silence + dark effect from Tier 3 and Kefka) Quetzalli/Palidor (Jump over Heartless Angel/Fallen One! Emergency against final attacks if you can count their HP) Kirin (great during the final battle or any long battles) Siren (silences Magic during Tier 2) Phantom - (gotta count the enemy HP, but great against Tier 3) B - Rare/barely resisted damage types Alexander (Holy damage!) Bismark (Water damage!) Midgarsormr/Terrato (Earth attack without the Quake prep) C - Mostly situational or beaten by the spells they teach/imitate Zona Seeker/Zone Seeker (how many times do you need Shell? Magimaster?) Carbunkle (how many times do you need Reflect?) Seraph, Lakshmi/Starlet (worse than Cura? It ignores Reflect) Cait Sith/Stray (highly situational) Phoenix (you'll never cast this, be honest) Odin & Raiden (Only good when you need an instakill... and they still miss) Catoblepas/Shoat (A weaker instakill... yeah OK) D - You could just cast the attack spell and deal more damage instead. Maduin - At least dad is non elemental Ramuh, Ifrit, Shiva Valigarmanda/Tritoch - If the target absorbs fire, ice OR lightning it absorbs ALL damage. F Crusader - End game esper, Meltdown requires equipment setup, never summon Crusader! Ragnarok Ragnarok gets its own tier, as you have to give up the sword and the Lightbringer/Illumina. Morph is only good if you know what to morph into what. Flare is great, especially in later versions where the animation is much, much faster (SNES Flare is slooooooow)

Idk of it's just me, and I never played FFVI Advance long enough to get to the new summons but what I have seen of them is that the graphics for them look so out of place stylistically.

Worst to Best Magic (might need to break this up into White, Black, Green lists)

i really do recomend playing the GBA version at some point, it has the good script, bonus content, and the gameplay you remember

The pixel remaster added level up bonuses to ALOT of the ones who didn't have any. I'd like to see how this list would change because of this.

Mirage Vest and Shadow Edge both grant the image status in addition to Fenrir.

I was surprised to see Crusader at the bottom of the list. The summon is garbage, but the meltdown spell is amazing. If you have four flame shields equipped it automatically becomes both a huge heal for all your party members and massive damage for 90% of the enemies you encounter. Usually I equip one of my parties like this and they absolutely breeze through anything.

Are you not going to mention how Shiva and ZoneSeek are the 2 espers that teach Osmose? It's basically the spell that unlocks full spellcasting potential

Pallidor was my go-to for biss fights. 4 free attacks.

Don't forget for those learning Ultima. Uncurse the Curse Shield and add it alongside the esper with Ultima (I forgot who has it) and you'll learn it x 2 instead of 1. I usually wait to upgrade Odin to Raiden once I am done with Odin's speed stat at level up. I don't recall but I think I did HP 50% bonus using Bahamut at level up till I reach near 9999 HP (probably around level 75? I forgot) then switch to stat bonus depending on char. If it's any of the girls speed > magic attack > magic def for guys it's speed > physical attack > magic def. I hate when I use Crusader that shyt always hits my party for over 9k or even 9999. I always gotta do life 3 on me so I can have fun using the spell. I think it's dumb how Square put the dragons in Kefka's tower instead of somewhere else since it's a waste of having to go there twice ruining the experience when I want to finish the game and get the ending.

As for Ragnarok, half of the player's pass it up for the Ragnarok sword (which can be bet for an even better sword). You can still get the spell Ultima from the Paladin Shield (just gotta grind a lot to uncurse the Cursed Shield). From a pure completionist standpoint, the sword is better then the esper.

At the moment (I'm doing the Super Nintendo version on emulator), I'm just starting the World of Ruin, and my favorite thus far is Sraphim--Seraph for you modern players, I guess? Cure 2 (Curaga) has saved my characters' bacon more times than I care to count, but I'm looking forward to getting Phoenix and the one from Owzer's mansion, that's for sure...!!

Ragnarok has the ability to give you infinite genji gloves as well as the cursed ring without wasting the cursed shield. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Actually, the key to Ultima Weapon's damage is level, rather than HP... all characters, with no level up bonuses, will have around 9700-9900 HP at LV99, so a couple of levels with high HP bonuses is all it takes to ensure maximum HP.

Gotta love those espers with no stat bonuses. 😜 I know that stats aren’t everything, but when that’s the only way to boost your characters’ stats, it definitely hurts the overall score. Ragnarok is one that I’ve thought about digging more into on the metamorphose ability, to see what all you can get from it. I doubt there is anything that is crazy good from it. And as for the top of the list, I’ll just say… long live the king!

Also i loved ragnarok as a summon, you could get so many powerful relics and items. But then again i loved that game and had a hard time moving on between the worlds by the time i fought kefka he was a joke.

solid.

Worst to Best - Final Fantasy 6 Characters next? :D

interesting criteria.

Sorry. I stopped the video to ask. I am not trying to be a jerk I am just curious. Why did you give the unicorn a 7/10 accessibility when it is part of the Magitech Factory batch when it is like one of the first espers you get and also very hard to miss? --- I just looked it up and apparently you CAN miss it, but still why the 7/10? I feel like if the first ones you get without any major trial gets a 7/10 I don’t know how you would get higher unless it was REQUIRED for plot reasons. Yet again. I am just wondering what qualifies at a 10/10 for accessibility to you. Anyways… thank you for this content. I am a random jackass from rural America eating peanuts and watching your video because my insomnia is playing up. I scrolled through my feed for like 240 videos but this is the one that caught my eyes. I truly appreciate the work you did on this even though it is stopped at 4:59 currently lmao.

Behamut at number 1? Interesting. I don't care about Flare that much. But the summon spell Mega Flare is another option that can mindlessly obliterate Cultist Tower mobs (it's basically a weaker Ultima). And to kill Doom Gaze faster, buy a bunch of Pearl/Holy Rods from Thamasa, then use them as items in battle for a crapton of damage (especially if Morph Terra does so). Using Fire Rods as items can work too, for almost as much damage.

Don't forget how good Carbunkle is offensively with bouncing off 4 spells off of yourself

You know, it occurs to me that maybe your "Accessibility" category really should be replaced with something like "Usefulness Time". As in, rather than rate how long (potentially) you have something, rate how much of the game overall you are going to use it. IE: With Gau, if you use him, you can get Stray Cat right away with him, and you'll probably be using it for most of (if not all of) the entire game. Some of these Espers you get later game, you're going to be using the entire rest of your playthrough (especially if they have a good Level Up bonus), while others you get early, you probably won't use much (if at all) outside of teaching a few spells to a a character or two. So your overall use time for them (even if they're useful early, like Maduin) might not be very high.

Pretty sure if the GBA Espers were on here (sad that they haven't been added since), I can see Leviathan being in the top 10 because of being the only source of water magic, and Gigantuar being either under Bahumat or taking his place, since his summon is kinda busted, and he was the first +2 speed bonus. The only part hurting him is accessibility, since he's an absolute pain in the ass to take down to get.

Where would you put the gba espers at?

Proofreading is fun.

How funny that just yesterday they updated the Pixel Remaster and granted Alexander a stat bonus of Strength +2, as well as changing Raiden to Speed +2.

Crusader also makes random Esper summons inherently risky, which makes Magicite Shards go from a gimmick to a liability.

Just commenting to add some engagement points to my favorite Canadian streamer.

I was so irked by Ifrit and Shiva with those level-up bonus. Why didn't the devs give Shiva +1 to magic. It pairs well with Iftrit being her opposite. She teaches ice and healing, he teaches fire and drain. She should give +1 to magic to compliment Ifrit's +1 to strength. I do like how Golem and Zoneseek are both in the auction house. Shell and Protect for the party. I just like espers that compliment each other. I'm weird like that.

If the first set of Espers have a 9/10 for accessibility, what would it take to get a 10/10 there?

I erjoy your portmanteau of rubric and metric 😅

Do you think you’ll do a Relm sketch/control best and worst abilities!?

As for Doomgaze at lvs over 50 Pearl Rods should do 9999 damage each TO break 7 of them to kill IT BEFORE it runs auto haste + auto reflect the entire party play on WAIT mode and turn down Battle speed/message speed to slow or very slow on the Pixel version.

Fave Esper??? oooOOooo...and here I am still wondering how to get the yeti to equip the gear you get for it...the rom for some reason did not let me. Getting them in Zozo was the best part of all. I love that setting above even the ghost train! I need to play the second world more to tell you a good assessment there. I have an unfinished file on my laptop.

While I like some of.your method to rank them, I think Amy Esperanto that is mandatory to grab would be a 10/10, and then all other based on difficulty and time needed to grab. Over all cool

Seems like you might need to add "Looks badass" to the rubric. Pretty sure that'll get Alexander up a couple of places.

The numbers don’t lie, and they spell disaster for you, at Sacrifice! I like summoning Bismark, it’s a WAIL of a time.

Man there's a lot of errors where the numbers don't match what you're Reading.

I’m surprised Rasp didn’t make Shiva worth more. Eh, oh well.