Boss Battles[]
The party fights Lavos twice in Chrono Trigger. The first time is at the Ocean Palace. Here, it is significantly stronger and faster than usual and possesses three times as much HP. Unless the player has level grinded significantly as well as having prepared effective healing/buffing countermeasures or using New Game +, they are usually defeated quickly. Lavos appears a second time at the very end of the game when the player goes to the year 1999. Here, it is the first of three final forms, while the next two being its inner forms. However, this stage can be easily skipped by going to 1999 via the Epoch, or rather than using the Gate in the bucket at the end of time.
Other Boss forms[]
Before Lavos begins to fight the players with their normal powers, it would test them. Lavos imitates certain bosses fought by the player throughout the game, copying their stats and attack patterns. Lavos becomes:
- Dragon Tank
- Guardian with Pods
- Heckran
- Zombor with upper and lower bodies
- Masa & Mune
- Nizbel
- Magus
- Black Tyranno with Azala
- Giga Gaia with both arms
After passing all these trials, Lavos will go on the offensive, using its own abilities.
Lavos will use Rain Destruction first, which does massive damage. His battle scripting as shown is done in order. Be careful of Lavos's needle since that does massive damage as well.
Once its hit points have been exhausted, the mouth will fade away, allowing access into the shell.
Inside the Shell[]
Once inside, Lavos's body is revealed. It has two arms to guide it and its defenses won't be lowered until both arms are destroyed and the move Obstacle / Dark Will is used.
Keep in mind that his left arm (his left not your left) has 4000 more HP than the right arm. It is highly recommended to defeat both arms at the same time. Otherwise, one of the arms, when the other arm is destroyed, will cast a curse, a move that will cause one of your party members to lose status immunity built-in with your equipment, as their next move. That does not mean take your time because Laser Beam, the first attack used in the fight, does massive damage and will use it in a set order.
Once the arms are destroyed, it will use Obstacle / Dark Will to begin the final phase. If you did not defeat both arms nearly simultaneously and one of your characters was hit with a curse, Dark Will / Obstacle will grant confusion/chaos, making this fight tougher than it should until Shadow Slay / Umbral Embrace (Poison) is used after. The next 2 moves will be a way to prepare for the ultimate attack: Dark Flame's Embrace/Shadow Doom Blaze, which does massive damage even more than Laser Beam. The cycle repeats. Overall, this is just a mere set - up for the true form of Lavos.
once the body is destroyed, it would fade away, revealing its Core form which is the final battle.
True Form[]
first Cast off from its physical trappings, the Core is free to use the unparalleled power available to it, including changing the flow of time itself while in the final boss battle.
Unlike the previous Boss battles, this Boss battle does not have a set script.
There are three parts to this final form, the Lavos Pod, the Center Pod, and the Lavos Core. Lavos attempts to fool the player by hiding itself inside one of the pods beside it, using the center portion as a disguise. The real Lavos is inside the right-hand pod, evidenced by it having a higher HP and being able to resurrect the center body and a Lavos Pod.
The Lavos Pod heals the Center Pod's health. If it is destroyed, the Lavos Core's defense goes down. It acts as a shield, absorbing all elemental damage. It can also remove status immunities from your characters as well.
The Center Pod is the main power of the battle. The Lavos Pod heals the Center Pod's health, and if it's destroyed (much like the Lavos Pod), the Lavos Core's defense goes down. It is the Center Pod that uses the most devastating attacks. Heavenly Tears and his own physical attack will do damage nearly equivalent to the damage of the ultimate attacks (see below). but Watch out for these moves as these are unpredictable. Depending on the Time Place, each place has its own signature move it will execute:
- 65,000,000 Prehistoric (Grassy): Grandstone / Ultimate attack. This can do over 1,000 HP damage, enough to kill the characters with a low physical defense like Lucca and Marle if they are not prepared.
- 12,000 BC. Antiquity (Mammon Machine): Unholy Light / Slow: Does mediocre damage, but will inflict slow to those without or removed immunity from Lavos Pod. Do not take this lightly as the center pod can use Heavenly Tears and physical attacks more commonly.
- 600 AD. Middle Ages (Fiendlord Keep): Demon Star: An attack that cuts all the heroes HP in half.
- 1000 AD. Present (Leene Square): Diabolic Whisper / Inflicts random status. It does very small damage but can also cause a lot of trouble for characters who lost their immunity from the Lavos Pod.
- 2300 AD. Future (Ruined Site): Dreamreaver / Ultimate magic. This can do over 1,000 HP damage, enough to kill the characters with a low magical defense like Ayla if she is not prepared.
- The Lavos Core hides the true essence of Lavos. It is able to resurrect the pods if they are beaten. It is also responsible for making the fight travel through the flow of time with Time Warp / Temporal Shifts, which plays a role in what signature move the Center Pod will do. Beating the Lavos Core will destroy the pods as well.
It is highly recommended to destroy the Lavos Pod quick, first and immediately, preferably in one hit, as it can inflict a curse, which can cause major problems when dealing with the Center Pod. If the battle comes down to Center Pod and Lavos Core and the Lavos Core's defenses are lowered, you can make a choice of the following:
- Use your most powerful techs that hit all enemies. Probably the most preferred method, but pay attention to your HP.
- Go after the Center Pod next and kill it quickly. This method will take a lot longer, but it also takes a bit of time for the Lavos Core to revive both the Center Pod and the Lavos Pod.
- Go after the Lavos Core before it brings it defenses back up again. Keep your HP up to the maximum because this method would also mean the Center Core will be doing a lot of damage.