Wave Lopros guards the Cave of Waters in Chapter 3, “Wardens of the Aquapolis”, where the party goes to save the Water Maiden. Wave Lopros does not simply hit hard. It eats its own allies to heal, so the fight turns into a race against its turn-order icon. Every figure below is from the launch version on PC on Normal, with Rain (Tronn Vision), Lasswell (Leah Vision) and Fina (Warrior of Light Vision) at Lv 20 and Nichol at Lv 19. At that point their max HP is Rain 1,448, Lasswell 1,258, Fina 933 and Nichol 833. We beat it on Normal on our second try, choosing every turn by hand; the first attempt ended with the party falling.
Quick answer: Kill both snappers first so Wave Lopros cannot eat them to heal. Then build its stagger with Ice and spend Limit Bursts, Siren and the Hibernal Fury Resonance while it is staggered.
Wave Lopros is Lv 20 with 21,000 HP and is weak to Ice. When it eats a snapper with Devour, it heals about 2,000 HP and gains Bravery, so you need to clear the snappers before its turn-order icon turns red. Water and Watera hit the whole party, and Stranglehold can knock out one character in a single hit, so bring Phoenix Downs.
| Enemy (Lv / HP) | Type | Weak to / Resists | Drops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wave Lopros (20 / 21,000) | Dragon | Ice / None | Water Scroll I |
| Azure Snapper (20 / 2,100) | Aquatic | Thunder / None | – |
| Land Snapper (20 / 1,920) | Aquatic | Wind / None | – |
Wave Lopros is immune to Poison, Sleep, Silence, Paralysis, Confuse, Petrify, Charm, Berserk, Instant Death and Gravity. Blind, Slow and stat-downs only land some of the time. You cannot escape the fight.
Before the fight
The boss save point is on the Cave of Waters 2F. It is the first save point since 1F, and the Cave of Waters walkthrough covers the route there. Rest in a tent at that save point to restore full HP and MP, then save.
Put Nichol in the party for Formation: Bulwark (the party members guide shows how), and give a physical attacker the Sylph’s Tiara (“Imbues non-elemental physical attacks with Wind.”), because the Land Snapper is weak to Wind. The Ice Scroll I x2 from the Cave of Waters is Ice damage you can throw.
Pack these items before you go in:
- Phoenix Downs, several of them, since Nichol goes down often.
- Hi-Potions for single-target healing.
- Mist Potions, which restore 200 HP to all allies.
- Ethers for MP.
A short scene plays when you enter the room. Rain says “This looks like trouble.”
Nichol follows with the plan for the whole fight: “First, take out the two in front. Then concentrate your attacks on the larger monster.”
Wave Lopros Libra and weakness
Libra sits in the last row of Lasswell’s Leah’s Skills. It costs 1 MP and reads “[White Magic] Analyze an enemy for information.” Nichol also learns Libra at Lv 2. The beginner tips explain why it is worth casting on every new enemy.
On Wave Lopros, Libra shows Lv.20, HP 21000 and Type Dragon. Ice sits under Affinities, and the Resistances row is full of status icons. Trait 1 reads “Gains buff after consuming prey.” Items Dropped lists Water Scroll I, with no rare drop and nothing to steal.
Wave Lopros attacks
These are the moves it used in our Normal fights. Damage figures are per character.
| Attack | Targets | Effect on Normal |
|---|---|---|
| Water | All | About 480-720 each from full HP, even with Formation: Bulwark up |
| Stranglehold | One | 764-1,187; can knock Nichol out |
| Breath Wing | All, several hits | Left the party at 862, 600, 251 and 248 HP |
| Watera | All | About 400-600 each |
| Devour | Eats a snapper | Heals about 2,000 HP, grants Bravery |
| “Lures in more prey” | – | Brings both snappers back |
| Faith | Itself | Raises its magic |
Water is the party-wide hit you will see most often, and it still chunks everyone even through Formation: Bulwark.
Stranglehold knocked Nichol out three times on Normal, once with a 799 hit.
Breath Wing and Watera keep the pressure on the whole party between those spikes.
The snappers have their own tricks: the Azure Snapper uses Leech, and the Land Snapper staggers quickly.
The eat-and-lure cycle
Keep an eye on Wave Lopros’s icon in the turn-order bar at the top of the screen. When it turns red with a yellow “!”, its next move is either to eat or to lure. The eat starts with the banner “Taking aim at prey!”
Devour comes next. The snapper dissolves in green light and Wave Lopros heals about 2,000 HP, from about 17,300 to 19,260 in one Normal fight.
It also gains Bravery, an attack buff that lasts 4-5 turns. The buffs and debuffs explainer covers how Bravery works.
A few turns later, the banner “Wave Lopros lures in more prey!” appears and both snappers return.
Every snapper left alive is a heal waiting to happen. Kill them as soon as they appear.
How to kill the snappers fast
Open with Nichol’s Formation: Bulwark on the first turn. It costs 8 MP and reads “Increase physical and magic defense of all allies for 3 turns.”
The Land Snapper is weak to Wind. Physical attacks from the character wearing the Sylph’s Tiara show “Weak” and +200% stagger, and the Land Snapper staggers quickly.
The Azure Snapper is weak to Thunder, and Lasswell’s Ice Splitter also hits it as “Weak”. Expect the Azure Snapper to use Leech while you work on its partner.
Fina’s Siren (Summon Esper, 50 MP) is the best answer once you have it. Her Aero hits every enemy, and on Normal it killed the Land Snapper and put the Azure Snapper to sleep. The espers list covers Siren and the other summons.
How to stagger Wave Lopros
Ice fills Wave Lopros’s stagger gauge, and the stagger explainer covers how the gauge works. Split the jobs between your casters:
- Rain’s Blizzara builds stagger. It shows “Weak” and adds +350-485% stagger, even though it only deals about 280 damage.
- Lasswell’s Ice Splitter deals the damage. It hits for 876-896, about twice his Blizzara (about 420).
- Fina’s Holy Ray, her Limit Burst, is Light magic to all enemies. It hits for about 610-650 per target and helps the stagger along.
A stagger lasts about one round, so have your big moves ready before the gauge fills.
What to do while it is staggered
A stagger starts a BONUS PHASE in which every ally gets an action.
Spend it on Limit Bursts and Siren. Fina calls “Help us, Siren!”, and Aero hit for totals of 1,600-2,450 per target in one turn on Normal.
After the bonus phase, SELECT RESONANCE offers Hibernal Fury (W), Healing Wind (A) and Crystal Braver (S). Pick Hibernal Fury, which reads “Deal Ice magic damage to random enemies 5 times.” The Resonance list covers the other two.
Each Limit Burst has a clear job during a stagger:
- Nichol’s Formation: Steeled Advance reads “Fill allies’ LB gauges when they act. Effect expires for each ally after they perform 3 actions.” It refills the others’ Limit Bursts for the next stagger.
- Lasswell’s Null Moon is non-elemental physical and makes the target easier to stagger for 3 turns. It hit for about 3,000 in a stagger.
- Rain’s Infinity Drive is Fire physical with +50% damage against a staggered target.
Here is how a won fight on Normal played out. The second stagger came at about 17,700 HP, and Limit Bursts, Siren, Steeled Advance and Hibernal Fury took Wave Lopros to about 11,000. The third came at about 5,100, and Infinity Drive, Ice Splitter, Siren and Hibernal Fury finished it.
Healing and the Retry button
Heal every round that someone is below half HP. These are your options on Normal:
- Fina’s Cura restores about 300 to each ally.
- A Mist Potion restores 200 to all allies.
- A Hi-Potion fully healed Nichol, restoring 560-625.
- A Phoenix Down revives a knocked-out ally, such as Nichol after Stranglehold.
If the party falls, “The party has fallen…” offers Retry, Load and Return to Title. Retry asks “Retry this battle from the beginning?” with the cursor starting on No. Confirming it restarts the fight at the HP and MP you entered with, without reloading your save. The escape and Retry guide covers the menu in full.
Wave Lopros rewards
The Battle Result screen reads EXP Gained 0, Gil Obtained 0 and MRP Gained 0, with Items Obtained Water Scroll I x1.
The Growth screen that follows still showed level-ups on Normal. Nichol reached Lv 20, with HP going from 833 to 884 and MP from 175 to 182. Fina’s Warrior of Light reached Mastery Rank 4.
After Wave Lopros
The Water Maiden, Luka, is safe. Your objective changes to “Go to Olderion, the aquapolis“, and the game autosaves. Walk back to the 2F save point to rest and save before moving on.
The bosses list covers every other fight, including Aether. The walkthrough hub picks up the rest of Chapter 3.
