Every Version Of Tiamat, Ranked

It’s safe to say that, when most people think about dragons in Final Fantasy, Bahamut’s the first that’ll spring to mind. Even Final Fantasy XIV, with its myriad of named dragonkin, reserves a special place for our mighty mythology-turned-mascot monster. But let’s pay tribute to Tiamat today.

Tiamat has been in a fair number of Final Fantasy titles, with roles ranging from remarkably mundane to legitimately plot-imperative. Such versatility is the hallmark of a creature that can slither in and out of relevance, but has quietly become an important staple within the franchise’s nearly four-decade history. Let’s get to ranking all those appearances.

We’re excluding mobile titles from this list, as they’ve frequently been short-lived, and their Tiamat representation has almost always been thin or drawn from one or more mainline versions of the beast.

18

The Final Fantasy Legend

The Final Fantasy Legend was released in Japan under the name of Hell Tower of SaGa. As you either already knew, or can immediately deduce, this is, in truth, a SaGa game. The very first, at that. But its English translation heightened potential commercial awareness by linking it to a far more well-known brand.

Where does that leave FFL’s Tiamat? At the very bottom. It isn’t an enemy; instead, certain monster units under player control have the potential to transform into it. That sounds nifty on paper, but in this regard, it is one among many – with plenty of other transformations available, Tiamat is little more than a familiar name with barely a morsel’s worth of individuality.

17

Dissidia Final Fantasy & Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

The Tiamat from the fighting games, Dissidia Final Fantasy and its direct (and far superior) sequel, are little more than static floating images serving as summons. It’s a pretty decent summon, we suppose, but there are so many of them in Dissidia that Tiamat cannot hope to stand out in the slightest.

16

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire Of The Rift

In Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, Tiamat is a standard-type enemy that packs a fair bit of a punch. You’ll find this species as part of the bonus dungeons collectively known as Brightmoon Tor, and it’s swift enough to cause a sizable headache.

The thing is… that’s all we can really say about FFTA2’s Tiamat. It’s not a unique creature, it’s certainly not a unique character, and it’s not even nightmarishly challenging. It’s fine, but it’s hardly got a place in this list.

15

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

The underrated direct sequel to Final Fantasy XII, Revenant Wings sports a real-time-strategy battle system unlike anything else in the franchise. Revenant Wings’ Tiamat is one of a whopping 50 summonable Espers; it’s safe to say this puts a damper on this iteration’s memorability.

While Tiamat is one of the more powerful Thunder-elemental summons, it’s effectively a blink-and-miss appearance when players are unlikely to call it forth more than a handful of times throughout the game. It’s also just a palette swap of FFXII’s own design, with blue and red versions to denote friendly or hostile variants.

14

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

Tiamat reappears in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years in what is, essentially, a retread of her earliest role. Identifying herself as the Fiend of Wind, she challenges the party after a single line of dialogue. You get – quite literally – five times more dialogue afterward (read: a line from each of the five party members) when the team is retrospectively impressed with the now-dead dragon’s strength.

There’s not much else to say on this one. The fight’s a bit difficult, and the art design is OK. Another throwaway, to a point, but the more Tiamat, the merrier.

13

Final Fantasy XIII

As is the case with nearly every enemy redesign in Final Fantasy XIII, this installment’s version of Tiamat is pretty much unrecognizable. Technically, it’s called Tiamat Eliminator, and it’s a bizarre fusion of organic and mechanical elements. We’re going to be blunt here: we think it looks flat-out ridiculous.

Tiamat Eliminator is one of the bosses found in FFXIII’s final dungeon, Orphan’s Cradle. It switches between ground and aerial forms, and it’s got over three million hit points – which sounds incredible until one factors in just how high an HP pool so many late-game FFXIII enemies can have. Pretty unimpressive stuff.

12

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance’s Tiamat, which is a specially-named variation of the Thundrake species of dragon, stands out just a bit thanks to its appearance as the leader of three Mog Knights. The mission in which Tiamat appears, ‘Wind Sigil’, which pits the party against a moogle criminal syndicate called the Redwings.

Cute, right? The Redwings, which are a nod to the Red Wings of Final Fantasy IV lore, also command the Falgabards – a name change for the Four Fiends. Tiamat is, naturally, one of them. Given the strength of the Thundrake enemy type, and all the cheeky nods in this mission, we’re slightly likelier to remember FFTA’s Tiamat. But only slightly.

11

Final Fantasy II

In Final Fantasy II, Tiamat is a monster-in-a-box located in Pandaemonium, the game’s final dungeon. You can encounter it separately in the Arcane Labyrinth, the optional dungeon that is – sadly – only available on the PSP and mobile versions. It has hardly any greater presence there than it does as a sudden fight upon interacting with a treasure chest, however. In both instances, it’s all a rather muted affair.

What kicks FFII’s Tiamat up a notch is the very treasure it guards: the Genji Helm, a series-staple powerful piece of equipment. In fact, if we exclude a few specific re-releases of the original Final Fantasy, this is the Genji Helm’s inaugural appearance in the franchise, which helps this Tiamat stand out just a tad more.

10

Final Fantasy Tactics

FFT’s Tiamat is yet another regular enemy; it only makes it this far in our list because it’s commonly considered the most powerful regular enemy in the game. Yes, the infamous group-of-Red-Chocobos fight is the full-blown nightmare, but on its own, a Tiamat is far more threatening than any single bird.

Tiamat is the strongest form of the Hydra enemy, and it comes packed with Tri-Flame, Tri-Thunder, and Tri-Breath. On the flip side, since you can recruit most monsters in Final Fantasy Tactics, grabbing one for your team and buffing it with Reis’ Dragonkin skills is a fandom favourite maneuver.

9

World Of Final Fantasy

We’re finally getting into some of the better stuff here. Tiamat’s World of Final Fantasy form benefits from that same semi-comedic art style that’s rife in this spin-off. We certainly wouldn’t it to be the norm for our beloved dragon, but just the same, it’s a fairly unique twist among all the more vicious versions.

Tiamat is available a whopping four times: as a boss, as a Coliseum battle, as a regular enemy in the post-game dungeons, and lastly, as one of the ultimate optional bosses in the souped-up re-release, World of Final Fantasy Maxima. This sheer resilience toward knowing when enough is enough is, uh, arguably something of a flaw, we guess, but it’s a fun fight every time.