Leviathan, the God of Water, is the Chapter 3 (“Wardens of the Aquapolis”) boss in Final Fantasy Resonance. You fight it at Lake Dorr in the Olderion Federation, which you reach through the Cave of Waters after Old Town. Every number below was taken on Normal across three attempts, and all three ended in a party wipe. The fight was finished only after switching to Casual. The party for those attempts was Rain (Tronn Vision), Lid (Leah Vision, white magic in “Leah’s Skills”), Fina (Warrior of Light Vision) and Lasswell (no Vision, with Pharmacology and First Aid), with Rain and Lasswell at Lv 22 and Lid at Lv 21. Max HP going into the third attempt was Rain 1,604, Lid 1,071, Fina 1,043 and Lasswell 1,390.
Quick answer: Take out each Orb of Light using its weakness before attacking Leviathan with Thunder during its weakened phase. Maintain Shellga, and restore the entire party to full HP when its turn icon gains a red crown.
At Lv 23, Leviathan has 40,000 HP; Thunder is its weakness, while Water damage is halved. Orbs return in successive waves: Ice, Fire, Wind, then Ice again. Each wave concludes with a charged attack against the whole party, which can become a one-hit kill if the battle goes on too long. Lake Dorr’s recommended level is 23; at Lv 21-22 our party lost all three Normal attempts, the best one with Leviathan at about 15% of its HP.
| Stat |  Leviathan |
|---|---|
| Level | 23 |
| HP | 40,000 |
| Weak to |  Thunder |
| Resists / nullifies | Halves Water |
| Immune to | Sleep, Silence, Paralysis, Confuse, Petrify, Charm, Berserk, Instant Death, Gravity |
| EXP / Gil | 4,500 / 2,400 |
Libra lists two traits: “Becomes weakened when the Orbs of Light are defeated.” and “Becomes enraged if the battle drags on.” You cannot escape this fight.
Before the fight: the last save is in the Cave of Waters
The 1F save point beside the Cave of Waters entrance is your final save before Leviathan. The route from there to the boss has no further save points, chests, rafts or switches. See the complete route in the Cave of Waters walkthrough.
Arrival at Lake Dorr triggers an autosave before the cutscene. Using Load from the System Menu therefore returns you to the spot just before the battle. Before leaving the save point, bring:
- Phoenix Downs. Four were gone by the last orb wave of the first attempt.
- Ethers and a Mist Ether. MP runs out before HP does, since Cura costs 18 MP.
- Mist Potions and Hi-Potions.
- Flame Scroll I, Water Scroll I and Earth Scroll I for the three kinds of orb. The Olderion item shop sells Water Scroll I for 1,000 Gil.
- Lightning Scrolls, effective against Leviathan itself.
Give the character with the most free turns Pharmacology from the Leah Vision (“Enhances the effect of items by 50% during battle.”). Lasswell carried it and did most of the item throwing. If you have not set abilities yet, here is how to equip abilities.
The Lake Dorr cutscene
A scene plays as soon as you arrive, with no walking. Rain calls out “You…you’re one of the Sworn Six!” and Alluvion answers “I am Veritas of the Waters. Or Alluvion, if you will.” Alluvion adds “With this Divine Signet, making Leviathan go berserk was child’s play!”
Luka asks “Everyone..please buy me some time for my prayers to reach the God of Water!” and Alluvion orders “Send these fools to the bottom of Lake Dorr!”
The battle opens with Leviathan and a single Orb of Light.
Nichol warns “Those orbs of light are preventing Luka’s song from reaching the God of Water!” and Rain replies “We’ll have to get rid of them first!”
Your lineup is not forced. A party of Rain, Lid, Fina and Lasswell works, and Nichol still speaks his lines from the bench.
How the fight works: orbs, windows and the charge
The fight runs as a loop with three parts, and it repeats until Leviathan falls or your party does.
First, an orb is up: with an orb present, Leviathan is in its raging state, and spells and attacks target the orb by default.
Then you kill the orb: the banner “Rampage weakened!” appears, Nichol says “It seems the God of Water’s fury has abated! Everyone, strike now!”, and a window opens to hit Leviathan.
Finally, the window closes: it ends with a charged all-party hit, then the banner “Orbs of Light reappeared!” and Rain’s line “Damn it, there’s those orbs of light again!” In our attempts the waves were Ice orb, Fire orb, Wind orb, then Ice orb again.
After a later orb dies the banner reads “Orbs smashed—the song reaches Leviathan!”
Nichol then says “Now! We must make the God of Water come to her senses!”
From the third wave onward, Luka pants “Huff… Huff…” and Nichol warns “Luka won’t last much longer… Please, end this quickly!” Their lines mean the fight has dragged on too long, and Leviathan’s charged attacks deal much more damage from that point.
Orbs of Light weaknesses
Every Orb of Light is Lv 23 with 2,400 HP, and each one’s trait reads “Weakens Leviathan when defeated.” The orbs give no EXP.
| Orb | Weak to / halves | Casts | Kill it with |
|---|---|---|---|
 Ice orb (white-blue) |  Fire /  Ice | Blizzard, Deshell | Flame Scroll I, Rain’s Fira (Tronn’s Skills) |
 Fire orb (orange) |  Water / Fire | Fire, Deprotect | Water Scroll I, Lasswell’s Ice Splitter |
 Wind orb (green) |  Earth /  Wind | Aero, Blind | Earth Scroll I, Lid’s Stonera |
With only 2,400 HP, an orb melts once you hit its weakness. Rain’s Fira on the Ice orb shows “Weak” and “+350%” and staggers it.
Water Scroll I on the Fire orb shows “Weak” and “+200%”, and Lasswell’s Ice Splitter killed one with a 602 hit. Fina’s Siren (Flash Flood) is Water too, which the Fire orb is weak to.
On the Wind orb, Lid’s Stonera and Earth Scroll I show “Weak” and “+200%”. Two Earth Scroll I plus Stonera and Ice Splitter killed it in one round of turns.
The second Ice orb goes down the same way to Flame Scroll I and Fira.
Use scrolls from Items to exploit an orb’s weakness; they add about 200 damage. Orbs also wear down the party with Blizzard, Fire, Aero and Ruin. The Wind orb may inflict Blind on a party member, while the Ice orb’s Deshell removes Shell.
Leviathan’s attacks
Aqua Breath targets all four party members, dealing only around 140-200 damage to each while Shellga is active.
Wild Rage is a physical attack that hits the whole party and triggers Lasswell’s Physical Counter.
Leviathan also throws big Water hits on all four without a banner, for 300-500 each when Shell is down, and one of them can knock a character out. Maelstrom shows up late in the fight.
Watch for Leviathan’s charged attack as the weakened phase draws to a close. Its icon on the top turn-order bar turns red and gains a gold crown beforehand.
Leviathan then attacks everyone with a full-screen deep-water move; there is no banner, and “Orbs of Light reappeared!” appears at the same time.
On Normal, the first charged attack dealt 500-650 damage to each character, knocking out Lasswell and leaving Fina at 94 HP and Lid at 135. In another attempt, the damage range was 300-670. With Shellga active and everyone restored by a Mist Potion, the attack instead hit for 318-467, leaving all four alive with 800-950 HP. The late-fight version is far more dangerous: on the third attempt, Leviathan had about 15% HP when its third charged attack dealt 1,693-2,161 damage to every character through Shell, wiping the party.
| Attack | Targets | Damage taken on Normal |
|---|---|---|
| Aqua Breath | All | About 140-200 each under Shellga |
| Wild Rage | All, physical | – |
| Water hits | All | 300-500 each, no Shell |
| Charged hit (red crown) | All | 300-670 each; 318-467 under Shellga |
| Enraged charged hit (late fight) | All | 1,693-2,161 each through Shell |
Shellga, heals and the red crown
Cast Shellga on the first turn. It sits in Lid’s Leah’s Skills (“[White Magic] Increase magic defense of all allies.”) and costs 25 MP. It only lasts 2-3 turns, and the second attempt failed because it lapsed twice, so recast it as soon as its icon shows 1. Without Shell, Lid at about 1,071 max HP died to every big hit.
The moment the red crown appears on Leviathan’s icon, heal everyone to full. Fina or Lid can cast Cura on all allies, then have the Pharmacology user throw a Mist Potion just before the attack. This was the combination that let all four party members survive a charged hit on Normal.
Use Ethers before MP runs dry, rather than waiting for it to reach zero. A Mist Ether restores MP for the entire party.
Damage windows: Thunder, Null Moon and the stagger
Rain’s Thundara in “Tronn’s Skills” costs 15 MP and shows “Weak” with +350% to +485%. Fina’s Thundara Blade (15 MP, Warrior of Light) shows “Weak” with +290% to +407%. Stonera does not show Weak on Leviathan, and Fina’s Holy Ray only does about 300 here.
Lasswell’s Limit Burst Null Moon (“Deal non-elemental physical damage to an enemy. Target is more easily staggered for 3 turns.”) did 1,387 and sets up the stagger.
Follow it with Fina’s Thundara Blade, and “STAGGERED” appears under Leviathan’s HP bar. While it is staggered, the whole party gets queued turns, marked by green checks on the turn-order bar. The stagger system rewards saving your biggest hits for this moment.
During a stagger, Lasswell’s Ice Splitter dealt 1,654 to Leviathan. Rain’s Limit Burst Infinity Drive (“Damage increases by 50% if target is staggered.”) hit for 6,030 while Leviathan was staggered, compared with about 1,300 without a stagger. Save your Limit Bursts until a staggered opening.
A stagger chain can end in SELECT RESONANCE, offering W Hibernal Fury, A Healing Wind and S Crystal Braver (“Deal physical damage to all enemies, cast Regen on self, and increase own defense and spirit for 3 turns.”).
Crystal Braver did 4,017 in total on the staggered Leviathan. The full set of options is in the Resonance list.
Why the party lost three times on Normal
In the first attempt, the party fell during the second Ice orb wave with Leviathan at about 20% HP. All four Phoenix Downs had been used; Lid had 16 MP, below Cura’s 18-MP cost, and Fina had just 1 MP. The second attempt ended in a wipe at about 70% HP after Shellga expired twice. On the third, Leviathan reached about 22% HP by the fourth orb wave, then about 15% before its third charged hit wiped everyone through Shell for 1,693-2,161 damage.
The late-battle enraged charged attack is the main obstacle. Enter above the recommended Lv 23 with higher max HP, save all Limit Bursts for stagger windows to shorten the fight, and use turns for orbs, Thunder and healing only.
If the party falls: Retry, or change the difficulty
A wipe brings up “The party has fallen…” with Retry, Load and Return to Title. Retry asks “Retry this battle from the beginning?” with the cursor on No. Choosing Yes restarts the fight at full HP and MP and gives back every item you used, without reloading a save. More on this is in the escape and Retry rundown.
Difficulty cannot be changed during a battle. To lower it, follow these steps.
That is what we did after three Normal losses. On Casual the second stagger and Crystal Braver ended the fight, and “BONUS PHASE” appeared while it was staggered. You can change back to Normal afterward using the same method. For a comparison of the modes, see the difficulty settings breakdown.
After Leviathan
Once Leviathan falls, Alluvion gasps “The Divine Signet’s hold is lost…? Don’t tell me the Maiden’s prayers got through!?”
Luka asks “Is…is everyone all right?” and adds “It will take many, many years to completely purify the water.” Your objective changes to “Go to Olderion, the aquapolis”, and you are back on the World Map outside Lake Dorr.
Leviathan is an Esper as well: “Summon Leviathan, ruler of the seas. Stays in battle for 3 turns.” Its Tsunami skill costs 50 MP, and it appears in the Espers list. Find the game’s other fights in the bosses list, and follow the full walkthrough for the continuing route to Olderion.
