Warmech (Final Fantasy)

The Warmech, also known as the Death Machine, is an infamous foe from the original Final Fantasy. Located in the Flying Fortress on the bridge leading to Tiamat, it has a chance of appearing each time the Warriors of Light enter a battle there, making it an extremely rare enemy.
Warmech is the most powerful random encounter in the game (not counting enemies added in Dawn of Souls and Anniversary), and is more powerful than most of the game's bosses, only truly being rivaled by the final boss. Because of this, it could be considered the first superboss of the Final Fantasy series.
==Stats==
== AI script ==
Action	Probability
Attack	48.08%
Nuke 	48.08%
Flee 	3.85%
Prior to Pixel Remaster:
Action	Probability
Attack	75.00%
Nuke 	25.00%
== Battle ==
Warmech only has two actions in battle.
* Physical attack - High physical damage to one party member. Can deal up to 2 hits, for 128 to 256 damage per hit before defense. Warmech's attacks are highly accurate.
* Nuke - High non-elemental magic damage to the whole party. On NES, WSC, and PS1 versions, this ranges from 80 to 360 damage. From GBA onward, this ranges around 380 to 420 at low levels (less than 101 magic defense).
In most versions, it regenerates 5% of its max HP (100 HP) every round; in the NES version, Warmech's regeneration is instead only 3 HP a round.
Warmech often gets a preemptive strike, which can make the battle even harder, especially if it kills any party members before the player even gets a turn.
=== Strategy ===
Whether the player succeeds against Warmech depends on their level, how well equipped the party is, what condition the party is in before the fight begins, and how lucky the player is. Warmech battles can quickly turn into desperation as the party dies one by one.
The encounter should be treated as a boss fight. Due to the frequency of heavy party-wide damage, a White Wizard should focus on constant healing, only assisting with buffs if the party is starting the round at full health. Healaga, Curaja, and Curaga should be used liberally. In GBA onward, powerful healing items should also be used whenever necessary. It will help to have a fair supply of X-Potions, Elixirs, and Megalixirs, if possible.
To help defend against its physical attacks, Blink / Defender and Invisira / White Robe should be used to increase the party's evasion. As Warmech has a high 200 accuracy, maximizing evasion will be required to dodge at least one of its hits consistently, so repeated castings of Blink and Invisira will be necessary over two or three turns. Since the battle is short, it may not make sense to use Protera or Protect Drink as these need to be stacked several times for a visible effect, but the player may choose to increase defense for extra safety if they have a lot of healing available to buy time.
Black Magic users should then cast Haste once and Temper several times on the party's strongest physical attackers. The physical attackers themselves should use Giant's Gloves to cast Saber on themselves for a few turns before attacking. NES version players should skip Temper and Giant's Gloves, as they are bugged and do nothing.
For Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary Edition, the Hermes Sandals can be used in place of casting Haste. In the aforementioned two versions and Pixel Remaster, Speed Drinks can also be used on physical attackers, and Strength Tonics if Temper is unavailable.
Once buffs are finished, physical attackers should attack as much as possible while White Magic users continue to heal and Black Magic users can choose to either continue buffing the physical attackers with items and Temper, using items to heal, or attacking with Flare.
==Other appearances==
===Pictlogica Final Fantasy===
===The Final Fantasy Legend and Final Fantasy Legend II===
The Warmech appears in The Final Fantasy Legend and Final Fantasy Legend II (otherwise known as SaGa and SaGa II in Japan) with the same design, though its name was localized to English as "Machine" in the first game and "WarMach" in the second.
===Other media===
A Ghost Card in Dissidia Final Fantasy bears the name "DeathMachine". It is a Level 52 Garland, and has a Warp Cube and Cyan Gem to be won via Battlegen.
A Warmech appears in the web comic 8-Bit Theater. His debut comic is titled 1/64, referencing the chances of encountering a Warmech on the bridge in Final Fantasy.
==Behind the scenes==
Nintendo Power once held a "Your Name in a Game?" contest in their September–October 1990 issue, which involved photographing the Warmech and mailing it to their head office as part of a random draw. Nintendo Power never announced a winner, but Chris Houlihan was named in a secret room in the English version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In all later ports any mention of him is removed, though his secret room remains.
Warmech only appears as a random encounter enemy in most iterations and ports of Final Fantasy, but appears as an overworld enemy/miniboss, using a recolored robot sprite, in the PSP-exclusive Labyrinth of Time.
== Gallery ==
FFI Death Machine Bestiary.jpg|Warmech's Bestiary entry.
FFI Nuke GBA.png|Nuke in the Dawn of Souls version.
FFI PSP Nuke.png|Nuke in the 20th Anniversary version.
FFL Warmech.png|Machine in The Final Fantasy Legend.
Makai Toushi SaGa Death Machine.png|Makai Toushi SaGa (WSC).
FFLII WarMach Artwork.jpg|WarMach's artwork in Final Fantasy Legend II.
FFLII Warmech.png|WarMach in Final Fantasy Legend II.
SaGa 2 DS Death Machine.png|SaGa 2: Hihō Densetsu Goddess of Destiny.
NP Warmech Contest.jpg|The Nintendo Power issue detailing the Warmech contest.
de:Todesmaschine (FFI)
es:Máquina mortal (Final Fantasy)
Category:Enemies in Final Fantasy
Category:Superbosses