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The Masamune, 1000 AD and 600 AD
- After cleaning up in 65,000,000, return to Melchior’s home, south of Medina. With the aid of one of your party members (Lucca or Robo), he’ll reforge the Masamune. Legendary weapon!
- Take the Masamune to the Cursed Woods in 600 AD and present it to Frog. After a lengthy cut scene of flashbacks, one in which you finally get a look at the infamous Magus, Frog will join your party.
- Take Frog to the End of Time and present him to Spekkio. He’ll learn Water magic. He’s not fantastic at casting, but he’s a decent healer and an overall better choice for a party member than Marle, who also uses Water magic. Make sure you do this before you go after Magus! Frog is horribly stunted Tech-wise until he knows magic!
- Now’s also a good time to learn your first (likely your first, anyway) Triple Tech, Triple Attack. It requires Crono, Robo and Frog, as well as three attacks you likely already know: Cyclone, Robo Tackle, and Slurp Slash. Triple Attack is one of the less useful Triple Techs in the game, but at this point it will easily be your strongest attack, and can make some of the coming battles a fair bit easier.
- Head back to 600 AD and look to the northeast of Fiona’s Villa for a mountain range with a conspicuous wall out front, aka the Magic Cave. Frog will use the Masamune to smash through, creating a pathway to the next major dungeon.
Magic Cave
This area is quite short. Upon entering you’ll have to face off against two Grimlings and a Vampire Bat. Use magic to defeat the Grimlings. Follow the path to find a locked black box and a pack of two more Vampire Bats and another Grimling, and beyond that a horde of Grimlings that you can avoid if you’re careful. Fighting this horde will generate an additional battle against two more of each enemy. The exit isn’t far past here. Read the note on the body, then head through the exit and beyond…
Fiendlord’s Keep
- Ominous. Begin your trek through here by exploring the east and west wings of the Keep. They’re populated, but… yeah. Freaky, but at this point harmless. You’ll find a Mid-Ether in the east wing and two more Mid-Ethers in the west, as well as a Shelter.
- Return to the main hallway. You’ll find a save point at the top of the stairs… though hitting it will
summon Ozzie. His appearance will turn the Keep into a non-stop bloodbath from beginning to end, starting with a battle against four Underlings and two Vampire Bats. Standard attacks will wipe them all out.
- You now have a choice: east or west. We’ll start with east.
Eastern Hallway
- There are four children in the first room down this hall. Speak to the bottom child and say you want the treasure to turn them into Shadows. Wipe them out with a magic attack and check the chest for a Barrier Sphere.
- In the next room are three people known to your characters. Each one will turn into two Underlings, two Vampire Bats, and a Sorcerer. Because of the excellent chance of picking up more Mid-Ethers, coupled with high experience and TP, this hallway is probably the best place in the Keep to grind levels if you’re so inclined.
- In the far room is an odd, yellow enemy named Flea?. Approach and fight it for an easy kill, after which the killer will lose all of their MP to MP Buster. Then the real fight begins…
Flea
Flea is tough, but not that tough. He (yes, he, Flea is actually a guy) relies primarily on magic that will inflict status ailments on your party, the most dangerous of his moves being Wind Waltz, which will confuse one member of your party. Use magic or Panaceas to bring your party back up to speed whenever hit by confusion, sleep, poison, etc., then smack Flea with your strongest attacks. Don’t let any party members remain afflicted for too long, as Flea can near-incapacitate your party with enough time. Flea’s a bit lacking in the HP department, so as long as two party members focus on dishing out damage while one is on healing duty, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with this fight. Check the spot where Flea was standing once he vanishes to find a Magic Capsule.
Western Hallway
- The first hall down this way will now be populated by two gangs of four Lancers and one Gaoler. You can fight or ignore them as you wish.
- In the second room you’ll find five people facing a chair. Talk to the woman closest to the chair to turn them into Lancers. Take them out to make your next opponent appear, and speak to him to begin the battle.
Slash
Slash is much more straightforward than Flea, though to compensate he has a great deal more HP. For half of the battle he’ll attack you with his fists; for the other half, he’ll grab a sword and try to slice you to pieces. The second half is much more dangerous as his damage output rises, but Slash is otherwise quite predictable. Either he’ll deal damage to one person or he’ll deal damage to everyone. Put one person on healing duty, note how much damage his attacks inflict on your characters, and rejuvenate accordingly. The other two team members will dish out the damage; I found Crono and Frog’s X-Strike to be highly effective. The only odd thing to note is that Slash is immune to Water damage, so Frog and Marle should concentrate on physical attacks or healing. Slash will drop the Slasher for Crono upon defeat, and a save point will appear where he was standing.
Fiendlord’s Keep Interior
- Return to the main corridor. The save point where you spoke to Ozzie is back, and this time it will shuttle you into a hallway filled with forced battles against Underlings, Blue Gargoyles, and Sorcerers. Only Sorcerers are worth Techs. Grab the Mist Robe at the end of the hall, then pursue Ozzie.
- The next area is full of moving floors and blade traps. Move carefully to avoid being hit by the blades and losing HP. Not at all difficult to avoid. Make sure to grab the Dark Mail from the chest halfway through, and the Death Claw from the chest near the crank at the end.
- Next up is a series of stairs. You can ignore the Vampire Bats and the Jugglers, but if you get touched by the Roundillos that roll through the area you’ll have to fight any nearby enemies. Slide down the chain ladders if you want to avoid battle. Be careful fighting the Jugglers - they alternate between being weak to magic and weak to physical attacks, and you’ll have to swap back and forth to kill one.
- The next small room looks like a clear path to Ozzie, but it’s actually littered with pit traps. Hit one and you’ll drop into a room with six Lancers to kill. Wipe them out and you can explore the room, and aside from chests containing a Shelter, a Barrier Sphere, a Lapis and a Mid-Ether, you’ll find ‘save points’ to the north, south, east, and west. One of them is an actual save point; one leads back up to Ozzie; the other two are battles with three harmless ???s. Given the amount of experience you earn for fighting nothing, it’s kinda worth it to keep falling down and killing these things as you stumble your way over to Ozzie.
- (If you want to avoid falling into a pit, skim along the outer wall until you reach the right side of the room, walk forward until you’re parallel with the pillar on your left, walk left until you’re directly south of Ozzie, walk up until you’re just short of the end of the wall on your left, and then slip back to the right wall to continue north.)
- The next area features another set of stairs, though this time you have to face Outlaws and Roundillo Bombers along with Jugglers. Take out the Jugglers first if Outlaws are present, as they’ll use a powerful combo attack if you go after an Outlaw and don’t kill it in one hit.
- The next corridor features a series of battles against Outlaws, Servants, and Jugglers. Servants are nothing special, and you probably know how to deal with the other two by now. A chest containing a Speed Belt waits at the far end.
- Almost done. The final corridor of enemies can, if you wish, be completely skipped by slipping around the dragon statues flanking the red carpet. If you decide to fight you’ll face battles against Outlaws, Jugglers, and Servants. Grab the Athenian Water from the chest at the end before exiting.
- And in the next room…
Ozzie
Yep, you finally get to fight him… though to be honest, this battle’s a joke. Attack Ozzie head on and you’ll do no damage, as well as receive a vicious counterattack. Go after the levers surrounding Ozzie, though, and eventually you’ll knock him into a pit and end the fight. Sigh…
- After Ozzie’s gone, two save point sparkles will appear. The one on the right is an actual save point. Save and heal - trust me, you want to save and heal - then pop open the chests in the room for a Magic Scarf and a Mist Robe. Prepare your team for a hefty battle, preferably with magical defines in mind, then step onto the glittering spot on the left.
- The next set of stairs is populated by a horde of Vampire Bats. Feel free to run right past, which, given the next battle, I highly recommend.
- Cut scene… and…
Magus
The buildup has been considerable, but it was worth the wait. This is the first truly epic battle in Chrono Trigger. Magus is an exceptionally difficult opponent, especially on your first pass, and will require a great deal of patience and attention to detail to defeat.
Before getting into this fight you’ll want to carefully consider your third party member, since Crono and Frog are mandatory. Magus requires the use of all types of elemental magic to defeat - Lightning, Water, Fire, and Shadow - and is not easily defeated if you don’t maximize your coverage. For that purpose, it’s not the best idea to bring Marle in, as she and Frog both have Water magic. In that case it’s a tossup between Lucca and Robo. Lucca is better for maximizing damage, while Robo can provide extra healing on top of Frog. If Frog doesn’t have the spell Heal, go with Robo. If he does, I recommend Lucca instead. Equipped with a Mist Robe she’ll be better suited to warding off Magus’s attacks than Robo.
Magus is a powerhouse. He’s capable of using all four types of magic, and will hit everyone in your party with elemental attacks on a regular basis. He’ll also use a spell that will slowly drain your health, and usually renews it every few rounds to ensure that you’re constantly being drained. All this adds up to a lot of pain in a fairly short period of time… and it’s made worse by the fact that Magus counterattacks virtually everything you do. Ouch.
Put one character on healing duty (this will probably rotate as the battle wears on) and watch Magus. If you attack him with spells willy-nilly you’ll soon discover that they heal him rather than hurt. Magus is only affected by elemental spells that match the last spell he used. If he used Ice II last, use Water or Ice. If he used Fire II last, use Fire. If he used Lightning II last, use Lightning. If he used Dark Bomb, have Robo bust out Laser Spin, as it counts as a Shadow-elemental attack. Don’t use any other kind of spell or you’ll only heal Magus. (This also counts for Double Techs, such as Fire Sword or Blade Stream. By all means, use these attacks when it’s appropriate.) If you’re not sure which spell type to use, or if you don’t have the appropriate element on hand, have one of your characters hit Magus with a physical attack. It won’t do much damage, but he’ll hit back with the next element in his chain. The only exception to this is Frog if he’s equipped with the Masamune, as the Masamune will lower Magus’s magic defense and make your attacks a little stronger. Highly recommended.
Halfway through the fight Magus will change tactics, dropping his elemental magic and constant counterattacks. At this point you can use any spell or attack you like on him, with full effectiveness, though his Barrier spell will lower the strength of your magical attacks. After using Barrier he’ll follow up with Dark Matter, an all-hitting spell of incredible power that will inflict 250-plus damage and probably kill anyone at half health or less. Someone has to be on constant healing duty at this point, preferably someone fast, to prevent Magus from wiping out your team. The other two members should maul him with their strongest Techs and Duals Techs. It will take a while (he has 6,666 HP!), but you will, eventually, take Magus down.
Eventually.
Ow.
Upon defeating Magus you’ll watch an odd dream sequence, and when everyone wakes up…